
Bonk /f<£3 



Copyright^ . 



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i 



ROUND THE WORLD 
IN SILENCE 



BY 

ANNABELLE KENT 




GREAVES PUBLISHING COMPANY 

NEW YORK CITY 

MCMXI 









Copyright 1911 

By 

ANNABELLE KENT 



YORK PRINTING COMPANY 
YORK, PA. 

&CI.A303684 



Preface 

BOOKS of travel are legion now-a-days, and one 
has bnt to turn to the shelves of library or book- 
store to obtain information on every land and 
sea under the sun. My excuse for adding to this col- 
lection is that I hope to offer something that will in- 
terest the stay-at-homes, revive pleasant memories in 
the globe-trotter, and give to both the novelty of 
being taken around a soundless world. 

A deaf young lady made the remark to me once that 
it was a waste of time and money for a deaf person to 
go to Europe, as she could get so little benefit from the 
trip. I told her that as long as one could see there 
was a great deal one could absorb and enjoy. Then, 
when the time and opportunity came for me to take a 
tour around the world, there happened to be a young 
man in the party who was totally blind. I was full of 
sympathy for him, but he. instead of feeling regret, 
thought the sympathy should be bestowed on me, 
since I was deaf instead of blind. Cheerfulness is a 
fine trait, but I could not bear to think of going to 
India and then not being able to see the glories of the 
Taj or the pathetic beauty of the Residency, — Luck- 
now's memento of the Mutiny. Feeling that I was fully 
repaid for the months of strenuous life, I have been 
moved to rewrite and publish the letters I sent home 
telling of my experiences on the tour as I would like 
to show others, as well as my deaf brethren and sisters, 

(3) 



4 PREFACE 

how much pleasure and profit one can get through 
travel not only in Europe but the Orient. I am not 
merely hard of hearing, but entirely deaf. Part of the 
time I was with friends of long standing, part of the 
time with almost entire strangers ; and even amid the 
stress of travel they were always kind and patient with 
me. If they should chance to read these pages, I 
would like them to know how much I thank them all. 



Round the World in Silence 



On Board the Princess Irene. 

DEAR MARGUERITE :— 
I wish yon could have been here yesterday, 
when this ship left Hoboken. All my dear 
ones within a hundred miles of the place were there, 
and I should have liked to have you with them. You 
could have seen Molly, her husband, and little son. 
You have not met her since our college days, when we 
were all at Monnett Hall together, have you? Her 
husband is such a fine fellow, and Buddie is the sweet- 
est, most engaging three-year-old that I ever saw. 

Did you ever know I wanted to go round the world? 
I didn't know it myself till Molly told me she was 
building such a castle in Spain. A year ago I never 
dreamed of such a thing; and it is wonderful how it 
came about. Molly came over from New Haven one 
day last spring and 'phoned me to meet her in Wana- 
maker's. We had a fine day, pretending we were 
school girls again. While we were at luncheon she 
told me that her husband and she were talking about 
" going around the world ". I told her to be sure and 
let me know if it came to a reality, for I wanted to be 
one of the party. That was in May ; in August, I was 
in Troy, visiting Edith, when one day I was thunder- 

(5) 



6 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

struck to receive a letter from Molly's husband, saying 
that if I had really decided to take the trip I was to 
telegraph at once to a man in New York who was to 
reserve a berth for me on the Isis, from Brindisi to 
Port Said, and on the China, from Port Said to Co- 
lombo, Ceylon, until he could hear from me ; then the 
sailing date from New York could be decided later. 
It was necessary to secure passage on these two steam- 
ers at once, as the lists were made up in London. I 
did not see how I could go. If I had had a little time 
to consider the pros and cons I was sure I could do it, 
but there was no time, and I could not venture to say 
" yes " without time to see if all my affairs could be 
arranged. Though I was deeply disappointed, I felt 
that I must give it up, and wrote to Mr. Brown to that 
effect. Three weeks later, at home, when I had nearly 
forgotten all about it, the postman brought me another 
letter from Mr. Brown, saying he had just learned that, 
through a mistake made at the New York office, I was 
booked through to Ceylon, and as we did not sail for 
four weeks, I would have time to make arrangements 
to go. Hurry ! 

I am on board the Princess Irene, myself, but how 
many things necessary to my existence stayed at home, 
I have yet to learn. 

For comfort there is nothing like the German steam- 
ers. Everything is kept spotlessly clean. The service 
is faultless, and the dinners are works of art. They 
learned at once that I cannot hear, and so, every time 
the meals are ready, the stewardess or steward comes 
to my stateroom to call me. And my stateroom is 
most conveniently arranged. I have two large ward- 
robes and plenty of drawers. 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 7 

On Saturday morning, we came in sight of the 
largest of the Azore Islands and passed quite close to 
Ponta Delgada, the Capitol. It was raining when I 
came on deck, and the huge brown rocks and soft 
green slopes were veiled by a mist of rain. But as the 
Irene drew near the city, the sun shone out gloriously. 




THE ROCK OF GIBRALTAR 

All the buildings on the island, even the fences, were 
a brilliant white. The city itself was crowned by a 
bright rose-pink clock tower. All the mummies in the 
deck chairs suddenly came to life, and there was high 
excitement on board during the two hours while we 
were passing the island. Head winds have fought us 
all the way, and it has been verv wet. My room- 



8 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

mate says it is rough, but this is her first voyage. 
When I remember our crossings of the North Atlantic, 
it seems to me that there is just enough motion to 
give zest. For me it has been drifting from one opal 
clay to another. 

What a wonderful day this has been ! We were 
called before daylight, — and there we were at Gib- 
raltar. As I dressed, the light became stronger and I 
could see the huge, gloomy rock, it's top hidden in 
clouds. Daylight came very quickly and showed us a 
glorious panorama of mountain and sea : a white glim- 
mer of a distant African city at the foot of grey hills ; 
a glittering bay, crowded with warships, ocean steam- 
ers, steam launches, and rowboats. 

The tender started for the shore at ten o'clock, and 
we were all on board ; dear little Buddie as excited as 
any of us. On the dock all of us five women and 
Buddie squeezed into one of the odd little carriages in 
waiting, while Mr. Brown went off on foot to find the 
cable office. What a ride we had through the quaint 
narrow streets, crowded with a motley throng of 
Arabs, in flowing white robes ; English soldiers ; ped- 
dlers, with baskets of fruit and flowers ; and patient 
little donkeys, loaded down with huge panniers of 
vegetables, fruit and charcoal. The tall houses were 
painted bright purple or yellow. Dark-eyed beauties 
laughed down at us from flower-decked balconies. 
They looked pretty at a distance ; but a closer ac- 
quaintance showed them to be so powdered as to be 
almost ghastly. Even the little girls looked as if they 
had been white-washed. The streets were almost as 
steep as the side of a house. Molly and I jumped out 
of the carriage and followed it on foot. L T p and up 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 9 

we panted, until the driver stopped at the entrance of 
the fortifications. Here we registered and proceeded 
on foot, with a tall soldier for our guide. Then up- 
ward again, along a path nicked out of the side of the 
mountain. We could see nothing over the sides of the 
ravine, so we plodded patiently along until we came 
to the first of the galleries which honeycomb the rock. 
Our guide lifted Buddie to his shoulder and we groped 
our way along, stopping occasionally as we came to 
an opening through which big guns thrust inquisitive 
noses, spying across the glittering water for some 
sneaking enemy. The huge steamers, far below, 
looked like toys ; yet we found afterwards that we had 
not gone anywhere near the top of the rock. After we 
had gone through some half dozen of these dark galler- 
ies, the guide turned and took us back to where we had 
left the carriage. Buddie, riding happily on the guide's 
shoulder, made love to the man, patting his cheek, and 
putting his arms around his neck, blarneying him, — 
" You dear soldier ! " When Ave came to smooth 
ground again, Buddie was placed on his feet; where- 
upon that young gentleman remarked, " Xow we men 
will walk together ! " 

Then came a drive through a lovely park, where 
huge oleander trees, thick with blossoms, cacti, pepper, 
banana, and pine trees mingled with tall geraniums 
and flowering shrubs in a luxuriant tangle. Later, on 
the Neutral Ground, where Spanish cavalry, re- 
splendent in black and yellow, mounted guard on the 
entrance to the land of the young king, we found Air. 
Brown in a carriage, returning from Linnea, the 
Spanish town on the other side of the Neutral Ground. 
The customs officers had searched him, — fun for the 



10 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

rest of us ! As we were somewhat cramped in our 
wee carriage, Buddie was handed out to his father. 
We had only two hours on land, and came near getting 
left. Driving along*, so interested in the novel sights 
that we had almost forgotten the Irene, we happened 
to see a clock. It lacked only five minutes to ten, the 
time when the tender was to leave. We whipped up 
our horse, and as we flew along we caught sight of 
Mr. Brown, who had also taken alarm. He had left 
his carriage somewhere, and, with Buddie tucked un- 
der his arm like a bundle, was running for all he was 
worth. Luck was with us, for our tender was still at 
the wharf. The gang plank had been taken up, but 
the space was not too wide for us to jump. 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 11 



II 

The Princess Irene. 

OUR sail on the Mediterranean was enchanting! 
The water was smooth as glass and a beautiful 
blue. One night we had a grand ball on board. 
For ball room we had the flag-draped deck with its 
red and white lights. The deck was sprinkled with 
what every one vowed was H. O. The band tuned 
up ; but alas ! the ball did not proceed. The girls were 
ready, but all the men had been seized with stage 
fright, and had betaken themselves into remote boiler 
rooms and other such masculine retreats. The ship's 
officers were still left us, and they would have made 
the swellest kind of partners, but — the rules did not 
permit them to dance. Well, at ten o'clock the Cap- 
tain ordered lights out, and the ball came to a melan- 
choly end. 

Friday evening: — The "Captain's Dinner" is just 
over, and to-morrow we shall be in Naples. That 
dinner made up for the ball. They hung the dining- 
saloon with flags and banners, draped the pillars with 
bunting, and put the waiters into white waistcoats. 
Each one of us had a souvenir in the shape of a hat 
ribbon. When time for dessert came, and we were 
making gay with paper caps, and swapping mottoes, 
the lights went out, and little red and white lights 
flashed up on the miniature lighthouses which served 
as centerpieces. Then, in the semi-darkness, entered 
a brilliant procession. All the waiters and stewards 



12 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

filed in, waiters and stewards alternately. Each waiter 
carried a tray, bearing a large hollow block of ice with 
a light inside ; around this was the ice cream, molded 
into little seated figures holding tiny Japanese para- 
sols. Each steward carried a large Japanese lantern. 
The gay procession circled all the tables and then 
passed out. After that we had our ice cream, and each 
lady was given a parasol and a flag. 

Sunday : — Here we are in the Bay of Naples. Yes- 
terday they woke me before daylight to look out at 
Vesuvius. The silvery grey-blue water was banked 
by dark blue mountains, and behind the mountains 
the sky glowed red. 

Did you know they have strikes in Italy? They do. 
As we were about to go ashore this morning, we heard 
that it was uncertain when the Irene would proceed 
to Genoa, because there was a strike among the deck 
hands, and the cargo could not be unloaded. After 
waiting around for an hour we decided to land, for a 
while at least. 

There was a large party of us, and we engaged a 
guide, — one who was very proud of his English. 
After we had looked into the Aquarium and a few 
shops, we turned toward Pompeii to spend the rest of 
the day there. We were all crowded into one wagon- 
ette, and the sun was hot, so we were glad enough to 
stop for luncheon at an out-of-door restaurant. The 
little building was roofed with vines, and, in the gar- 
den, real oranges and lemons hung from the trees. 
Here we had our first meal in the land of macaroni 
and garlic ; but we left out the garlic. 

Then on we went again, jolting over uneven pave- 
ments walled in on either side by bright painted 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 13 

houses. All around us, on the street, cooking, wash- 
ing, sewing, quarrelling and love-making were going 
on. One glance at the dirt would have turned Mari- 
etta's hair white ; and the odors were not of cologne ! 
As we drove farther out, open archways framed fleet- 
ing glimpses of lovely gardens. Our guide told us 
that the lively street we were on had been buried nine 
feet deep in lava at the time of the last eruption, and 
for a week it had been so dark that one could hardly 
see one's hand before one's face. There was a good 
deal of lava dust, and as we got outside of the city it 
grew deeper, and there were great heaps of it on either 
side of the road. It took about two hours to cover 
the fourteen miles from Naples, and when we left our 
carriage at the hotel, outside the entrance to Pompeii, 
there was no sign of anything like our preconceived 
notions of that city. We were admitted to a lovely 
park, — the more lovely to us because of our dusty 
drive. The high banks on either side of the path lead- 
ing to the ruined city were dotted with beautiful 
flowers. They say a king of Naples, digging to get 
water to the city from a spring, was the first to dis- 
cover the place. By good fortune we had Pompeii 
almost to ourselves, and we wandered for hours 
through the ruins. Think of it ! ruins two thousand 
years old. The narrow streets worn in deep ruts by 
the chariot wheels of long ago, with their huge step- 
ping stones at the crossings, spoke eloquently of the 
tide of life that had once flowed through them. Ex- 
cavating is still going on, as the ancient city has not 
yet been entirely uncovered. Restorations have been 
so carefully made that one can form an excellent idea 
of what the city was. There are bakeries with their 



14 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

ovens and mills for grinding flour, wine shops with 
their empty reservoirs, chemists' shops, with all their 
vessels and instruments. In the houses the wall paint- 
ings are as bright as if fresh from the brush. The 
homes of the wealthy had beautiful flower gardens in 
the inner court, and on pedestals in the gardens stand 
portrait busts of the long dead owners. AYe took 
some snap shots of each other in the Forum and 




POMPEII 

Roman Theatre, and had drinking water offered us 
from a well in the temple of Isis. 

The Baths must have been the height of luxury. 
with hot and cold baths, plunge baths, and Turkish 
baths, all provided for. In the Museum are shown, in 
glass cases, casts of some of the victims, made from 
the lava-molds that formed about their bodies. The 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 15 

poor creatures are doubled up or lying on their faces 
evidently in the vain effort to shield themselves from 
the awful storm of lava. It seems cruel that their 
death agony should be exposed to curious gazers. 
The shelves around them are filled with things they 
had used in life, — household utensils, jewelry, glass- 
ware, bronze and copper vessels, swords, coins, vases, 
in pathetic array. 

Three days later: — We have just left Naples, having 
had four days there instead of one. The strike made 
it impossible to unload the Irene on time. Naples 
was swarming with troops, and our vessel, which lay 
at anchor in the bay about a mile from the landing 
stage, was guarded by a number of Italian officers, 
swell-looking fellows, all red and silver braid, with 
feathers on their flapping beaver hats. It has been 
interesting to watch the unloading, and the people who 
come out in rowboats at night to sing and dance for 
us. I wonder how they manage to dance in those row- 
boats without going overboard. They hold up a big 
umbrella, inverted, to catch the change ; and they al- 
ways catch it, too. 

We have gone back and forth from the city every 
day either in the tender, that plies regularly, or in a 
rowboat. Yesterday we went to the Monastery of 
San Martino, a picturesque landmark on the top of the 
hill behind the city. There is quite a fine museum up 
there ; the carriage in which the present king was 
taken to his christening is kept in the museum. Be- 
sides the museum there is a beautiful church on the 
hill, and, best of all, some glorious views. 

We have also visited the Cathedral, and several of 
the four hundred Catholic churches in Naples, and 



16 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

taken a drive out to Puteoli, where Paul landed on his 
way to Rome. There are still traces remaining of the 
ancient Roman wharf on which he landed. Part of 
the four days we have spent in shopping for corals, 
guide-books and photographs, and in watching the in- 
teresting street-life of the city. Altogether, we have 
enjoyed ourselves in a leisurely way. Buddie has 
gone with us every day, and has been as good and 
happy as a king, happier, probably, and better too, 
judging from all accounts of kings. It has been huge 
fun to go about with Mr. Brown. No difficulties of 
language daunt him. I told him one day he could 
soon graduate in the sign language. Yesterday he 
bought himself an Italian-English Phrase Book. The 
rest of us stood in a row along the side walk while he 
hunted for the phrase he wanted, and tried it on one 
of the ever-present soldiers. It was amusing to watch 
them ! 

I have been out shopping all by myself, and the only 
trouble I had was with the beggars that followed me. 
You know Naples swarms with them. They dog 
every step we take. "We will take American money", 
they say, — obliging creatures ! An intelligent Italian 
told Mr. Brown that the soldiers' pay was only two 
cents a day. And only two cents a day was paid to 
the men unloading and coaling the Irene. 

We are due at Genoa about the middle of the after- 
noon, to-morrow ; our trunks have been left in storage 
at Naples, and we are to travel in light marching 
order. 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 



III 

Rome. 

OUR ship sailed into the harbor of Genoa early 
in the afternoon, in the midst of a storm. As 
we entered the harbor, lightning was flashing 
from one grey hillside to another, but by the time the 
Irene came up to the quay it was all over, save a light 
rain. An hour later we left the steamer, bag and bag- 
gage. Oh, such a pile of stuff as we seven people had ! 
Three hand-bags, four suit cases, one telescope bag, 
one huge shawl-strapped bundle, one carryall and 
Buddie's folding go-cart, and his horse, — a dashing 
little beast who travels tucked under my arm. And 
that is our hand baggage only! 

A grand procession of stewards paraded our effects 
across the quay, and we, with a last fond backward 
look at the dear Irene, followed after. In the custom 
house, steerage passengers, first-class passengers and 
second-class passengers, together with mountains of 
baggage, were crammed pell-mell into one small room. 
It took a long while to get all our scattered baggage 
marked with the little labels, like pink postage stamps, 
which showed that we had passed the Customs. 
When we were free to depart, Mr. Brown, with the 
aid of a Cook's man as interpreter, engaged carriages, 
and we set out to see all we could of the city in an 
hour. Genoa was charming to me with its air of old- 
fashioned pomp, its streets of grand palaces, its fine 
shops, and its peace from beggars. I put this city 



18 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

down on my list of air-castles for another visit. After 
supper at a Genoa restaurant, we took the express for 
Milan. But out in the open country our engine broke 
down, and there we stayed for hours. With us, on 
the train, was an American who was returning to his 
home in Burma with his wife, two small children, and 
two Burmese maids. The little ones went to sleep, 
and the rest of us set about getting some fun out of the 
situation. The train had given an awful jerk when the 
engine broke down, and Mr. Brown, who happened to 
be standing up, was thrown against the side of the car, 
breaking both the bows of his spectacles. He was 
dolefully mourning over them, when I asked him if 
he would be willing to try mending them with court 
plaster. "Oh yes, anything!" So the court plaster 
case was hunted up, and heads bent over the delicate 
bit of surgery. Wonder of wonders, it held ! — result, 
a perfect pair of blinders ! Such a sight he was ! We 
laughed until we could laugh no more, then discovered 
we were sleepy, and most overwhelmingly sleepy too. 
I dimly realized that a kind hand was tucking an over- 
coat around me, and after that I knew no more till we 
reached Milan at half-past two in the morning. Tum- 
bling out on the platform, babies, baggage and all, Ave 
trotted sleepily after the three porters loaded with our 
impedimenta. At the tall iron garden gate of a hotel 
across the way a concierge appeared. No, they had 
no rooms. Our procession stumbled on to the next 
gate, that of the Hotel d'ltalia, where we were soon 
comfortably in bed. Are you surprised that we were 
late to coffee and rolls? It was raining in the morn- 
ing, and later on we gazed at the exterior of the 
cathedral with umbrellas tipped back and the water 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILEXCE 19 

dripping on our faces while we craned our necks to 
measure the cathedral's glorious height. Inside, its 
beauty was almost hidden by the darkness ; but I had 
the memory of a perfect summer day there years ago. 

From the cathedral we went to the Santa Maria della 
Graccia to see Da Vinci's Last Supper. The master- 
piece is fast disappearing. I could see a great change 
in it since my former visit. A few hours there and 
then came the long journey to Venice. Much of the 
country Ave passed through has the beauty character- 
istic of Southern California. Part of the time the train 
ran between the shore of Lake Como and the glorious 
Alps. There, too, we found some steamer friends in 
our compartment, and the five hours slipped gaily past. 
We arrived in the midst of the annual storm ; this 
storm lasts several days, a high wind prevails during 
it, and the water rises to its greatest height. It was 
very wet and raw, with a strong smell of salt in the 
air. Coming from the station, we huddled shivering 
together in the gondola, while it thundered and poured. 
The hotel steps and hall were flooded with running 
water. The whole place felt like an aquarium. Our 
spirits were of the best, however, and there was amuse- 
ment to be found in everything ; in our blunders in 
trying to make our wants understood, and the blunders 
of the servants trying to understand us ; and in the 
quaint old house, with its narrow halls that ran around 
corners, and into all sorts of unexpected labyrinths in 
which we were forever losing ourselves. Our beds 
were so high that a step-ladder was a necessity ! 

Morning dawned, to the accompaniment of more 
rain ; but, nothing daunted, we set out on foot, through 
the narrow lanes in the rear of our hotel, to St. Mark's 



20 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

Square, only a few minutes' walk. The water was ris- 
ing rapidly, and workmen were putting up a temporary 
bridge to the door of the Cathedral. Inside, several 
inches of water covered the vestibule floor. In the 
Cathedral itself there were several small lakes in the 
hollows of the stone floor, where the ground beneath 
had settled unevenly. But who cares for wet feet in 
St. Mark's, the gorgeous, the incomparable? 

It was All Saints' Day, and we were just in time to 
see the procession of the Patriarch; the priests in 
robes of cloth of gold, purple or red, and the patriarch 
himself, in his white robes, seated on his throne of 
white satin, embroidered with gold. Afterwards we 
climbed the stairs, and spent a rapturous hour among 
the wonderful mosaics. The Square by this time was 
under two feet of water. The wind was blowing. 
Hats were sailing through the air. Boys were splash- 
ing around, and everybody seemd to be having a great 
lark. People were being carried or rowed across the 
Square. There was one curious makeshift for a ferry. 
Two chairs, taken from one of the cafes, were placed 
on a little platform which was drawn along on a child's 
cart. And on this comical and precarious structure 
perched a complacent couple, as dignified as though 
they had been in an orthodox carriage. 

The Doge's Palace was closed ; so were all the 
stores ; but the Royal Palace was open until one o'clock. 
This Palace was so plain that I was much disappointed. 
The bedroom for their Italian Majesties was very 
plain; their dressing-room adjoining has an ordinary 
marble slab washstand, like that in my room at the 
hotel, and the dressing table has only a simple white 
cotton cover with cheap lace edging. But the Palace 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 21 

is a huge place ; it has four hundred rooms and sixty- 
six courts. There is an audience room for each of the 
foreign countries. Attached to each is its own suite 
of dining, smoking, billiard and bedrooms, but the 
audience rooms only are shown. In that for the 
United States, the ceiling has medallion portraits of 
the Presidents. I thought Greece had the prettiest 
room, with its dainty pale blue and gold furniture and 
hangings. The weather was cold, raw and windy, and 
since everything was closed there was nothing but the 
hotel for the rest of the day. It was a harsh contrast 
to my first visit to Venice. That left me an enchanted 
memory of glorious summer days, blue sky and blue 
waters. I feel sorry for the rest that they could not 
have seen Venice in a more charming mood. 

The early morning light of Friday saw us gathering 
up our belongings and hurrying to the station. Over 
here, one has to be at the station an hour ahead of 
train time, for one can't even go into the waiting-room 
without a ticket, and the baggage must be looked after 
personally. On the train we beguiled the time by 
making tea, with one of us on watch in the corridor to 
give warning so that the guard might not catch us 
with a lighted spirit-lamp. But one can't drink tea all 
day, and we were glad enough when we reached Flor- 
ence at half-past five and climbed out of our cramped 
quarters. Just as we drove up to the hotel door, it 
began to rain heavily, but we had a cosy homey even- 
ing gathered around a grate fire in one of our three 
big comfortable rooms. 

All the next morning we spent in the Uffizi Gallery. 
Buddie, riding happily in his little go-cart, was much 
interested in the pictures. How can I describe this 



22 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

vast collection of treasures for you? The thought is 
overwhelming ! Of the long galleries, filled with pic- 
tures and statuary each one deserving special study, 
one room will ever stand clear in my memory, — that 
small round apartment called the Tribuna, which holds 
some of the world's priceless treasures of painting and 
sculpture. Here are the Venus di Medici, the Wrest- 
lers and the Knife Grinder, Raphael's Madonna of the 
Gold-finch and Titian's Venus of Urbino. In the Sala 
di Lorenza Monaco, also, are collected some of the 
finest paintings belonging to the Gallery. As nearly 
all the largest and most noteworthy are of the Ma- 
donna, there is an amusing incongruity in Botticelli's 
luxuriant " Birth of Venus " which has been hung in 
this room. Most beautiful of all the paintings here is 
Fra Angelico's Madonna with the twelve angels. 
Having been painted for a tabernacle, it is in the form 
of a panel with a surrounding arch. On the panel are 
the Virgin and Child against a background of cloth of 
gold, and on the surrounding arch are the familiar 
often-copied angels with trumpet, organ, cymbals and 
psaltery. 

After luncheon we drove to the Pitti Gallery. I 
spent most of my time here before Raphael's tender 
Madonna dello Sedia and the Madonna del Granduca. 
In another room is Del Sarto's John the Baptist. The 
Royal apartments at the Pitti Palace are as gorgeous 
and beautiful as a king's palace should be. The walls 
of the queen's luxurious rooms are hung with heavy 
cream white satin, embroidered entirely by hand, and 
the dressing tables are covered with exquisite Swiss 
embroidery ; it is a great contrast to the palace at 
Venice. We asked our q- u ide to show us the roval 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 23 

nursery ; but he said there was none, the children being 
left at Rome when the court came to Florence. 

Next morning we had such an early breakfast that 
we were ready for our day's sightseeing about half- 
past eight. First came the Church of Santa Croce, 
with its monuments and frescoes. Some one has aptly 
called this church, with its numerous monuments to 
world-renowned Florentines, " the Westminster Abbey 
of Florence ". One walks over the burial places of 
the first disciples of St. Francis, treading upon their 
worn bronze effigies. But for many years past Santa 
Croce has been reserved for the illustrious dead, states- 
men, sculptors, scientists, poets. Among the many 
monuments, we found the tomb of Galileo and the be- 
lated medallion to Machiavelli. The huge empty sar- 
cophagus of white marble erected in hope of obtaining 
Dante's body, seemed to me conspicuous rather than 
impressive. But Michael Angelo's tomb interested us 
deeply, because, it said, the bust was considered an 
excellent likeness. Other monuments to men less 
familiar, were worthy of admiration because of their 
beauty. Some, to philosophers and scientists of whom 
we had never heard, claimed attention because of the 
sculptors who designed them. 

Of even greater interest were the frescoes for which 
Santa Croce is noted ; they are everywhere, in the apse, 
in the chapels and the cloisters, in the arcade on the 
south, in the refectory. Many of the best have been 
restored after having been covered with whitewash. 
The finest are by Giotto, who had so important a part 
in the building of Santa Croce. Then there are many 
others, — scriptural, apocryphal and legendary, — by 
lesser painters ; by disciples of Giotto, by the Gaddis 



24 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

and their followers, by men of whom one knows noth- 
ing. In the Peruzzi chapel is Giotto's most beautiful 
series. They are arranged one above the other on the 
walls in three divisions ; on one wall scenes from the 
lives of John the Baptist and John the Evangelist ; 
below that, Zacharias and Elizabeth, and lowest, 
Salome with Herod and with Herodias ; opposite are 
the Vision of Patmos, Dusiana and the Resurrection 
of St. John, in like order. But in our haste all these 
passed by like pictures in a panorama. To have really 
seen all the Santa Croce frescoes, in their elaborate 
and varied detail, would have taken as many weeks as 
we had hours. 

Then came the Palazzo Vecchio and its great hall 
with its marble statue of Savonarola where the Italian 
Parliament was to be held by Victor Emanuel. Out- 
side, the cathedral walls are covered with variegated 
marbles in panels, mosaics and frescoes ; the countless 
niches which hold statues of saints and prophets are 
lined with colored marble ; elaborate traceries and fret 
work adorn mouldings, panels, and the canopies above 
the statues. One cannot wonder that six hundred 
years passed in building this cathedral, which, it was 
ordered, should be " the loftiest, most sumptuous and 
most magnificent pile that human invention could de- 
vise and human labor execute ". We stopped a few 
moments to watch the service that was going on. 
Crossing over to the Baptistery we were just in time 
to see the baptism of a tiny Italian, ten days old. 
Think of growing up under the shadow of Ghiberti's 
wonderful bronze doors ! In the Bargello, now a mu- 
seum, but once the residence of the Podesta or Chief 
Magistrate, there is a quaint inner court and stairway. 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 25 

At the Church of Santissima Annunziata a service was 
going on, so we turned away into the cloisters, where 
there is a very beautiful fresco by Andrea del Sarto, 
the Madonna del Sacco, painted in 1525. Its coloring 
is still soft and delicate. Then with reverent foot- 
steps we trod the halls of the Monastery of San Marco. 
We had the place all to ourselves, and were at liberty 
to wander around, meditating on the scenes enacted 
there in the days so long gone by. What a busy com- 
munity it must have been ; some of the brothers work- 
ing with pen and brush on the illuminated manuscripts 
which now lie under glass cases in the library; some- 
times a little band going forth to preach, or perhaps 
to buy supplies ; others sitting silent, meditating over 
the next sermon ; Fra Angelico busy over the sweet 
faces with which he adorned the walls. Saints and 
angels everywhere look down in benediction from 
cloister walls, from walls of Chapter House and from 
the walls of the corridors. What have they survived ! 
What could they tell us! How the brethren must 
have loved gentle Fra Angelico ! How pure and noble 
his mind, to conceive such sweetness and love as beams 
upon us from these faces ! 

Here is the little room to which great Cosimo de 
Medici used to steal away when he wanted a quiet 
hour, and last are the two low rooms where Savonarola 
prayed and studied. His chair and desk are still there. 
His strong face looks down from the wall. The whole 
convent seems to breathe his intense personality. It 
was in the square before the convent door that he so 
often preached. All is still and deserted out there now 
in the autumnal sunshine. From Savonarola's cell we 
went down into the Piazza della Signoria. In this 



26 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

square, then, as now, the heart of the city, the great 
soul yielded itself up to its Maker. A bronze slab 
marks the place of his martyrdom. 

We turned from the scene of Savonarola's death to 
the burial place of his enemies, the Chapel of the 
Medici. In spite of all the pomp of costly marble and 
mosaic, it does not touch the heart as does that lowly 
slab in the Piazza della Signoria. Passing on to the 
New Sacristy, we stood before those famous figures, 
Michael Angelo's masterpieces, Day and Night, Even- 
ing and Dawn, on the tombs of Lorenzo and Giuliano 
de Medici, over whose significance there has been so 
much conjecture. Some say they were left unfinished 
purposely, in a fit of pique, but I like better the con- 
clusion of more thoughtful minds that every line, every 
touch in them was the working out of a mighty 
thought ; that in them Michael Angelo was writing in 
stone his despair over his beloved Florence, the city 
which had just been defeated in its struggle for inde- 
pendence, and forced to bow its proud head, hitherto 
so glorious and free, under the yoke of mean and con- 
temptible rulers. He foresaw that her great career had 
come to an end, never to rise again ; henceforth leth- 
argy was to be her fate. The figures are full of a 
mighty life. They have fought and struggled, then 
sunk into oblivion, not into rest. 

In the afternoon we had a long drive up the Viale 
dei Colli and the Via Machiavelli, which run into each 
other in a fine wide road winding up a long hill. On 
one side are handsome villas surrounded with gardens, 
and on the other one looks down on beautiful views 
of the city below, and across to the distant hills. On 
the top of the hill is the church of San Miniato al 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 27 

Monte, which has a glorious view from its terrace. 
This is where the Spirit in " Romola " stood, when he 
returned to gaze on the city of his fathers. There is a 
cemetery close to the church, where candles burn in 
little shrines on the graves. Farther on there is an- 
other beautiful view from the Piazza Michael Angelo 
on the other side of the hill. 

Back in Florence again in the early dusk of the 
autumn day, we insisted on going to the English cem- 
etery though our driver said it was closed after four 
o'clock. The warden let us in, to stand beside Mrs. 
Browning's tomb and wonder why those two devoted 
lovers should be separated in death ; she lying here in 
their beloved Italy, and he far away in Westminster 
Abbey. 



28 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

IV 
International Hotel, Brindisi, Italy. 

HOW good the sunshine seemed, that first morn- 
ing in Rome, after the continuous rain we have 
had since we landed in Italy ! 
Though we were only five minutes' walk from 
Trajan's Tomb, we hurried straight to St. Peter's. We 
rushed through the streets of Rome in a trolley car. 
Think of taking a trolley in Rome, and to St. Peter's ! 
But at the time the incongruity of it did not occur to 
us. We thought only of the cathedral. Was it really 
the St. Peter's of our dreams? On every side stretches 
a wilderness of marble, marble pillars, marble walls, 
and high above one's head a mighty dome. It is won- 
derful, it is disappointing. If beautiful marble, sculp- 
tures, bronzes, gilding, height and breadth could sat- 
isfy, one would be satiated. One aches with the wear- 
iness of trying to understand, to grasp it all. After 
spending the morning there we felt we must have the 
afternoon out of doors. So, after luncheon, carriages 
were ordered, and we drove out to the Pincian Hill. 
The beautiful park-like gardens, with their wide 
stretches of green turf, were restful to the eye. This 
is a fashionable resort in the latter part of the after- 
noon, when the band plays and the Italians pay and 
receive visits, sitting in their carriages. We enjoyed 
watching them and looking at the beautiful view from 
the crown of the hill until the sun went down ; then 
we went home through the darkening streets, where 
handsome shops were blazing with electric lights. 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 29 

Next day we got down near the heart of ancient 
Rome, by going early to Trajan's Forum. There is 
little to be seen there except the Column, which is 
wonderfully preserved. Around it is wreathed, in an 
ascending procession, the sculptured story of Trajan's 
wars. From the Forum we walked to the Career 
Mamertinus, one of the city's most noteworthy an- 
tiquities. The Apostles, Peter and Paul, were im- 
prisoned there, being thrust down through a hole in the 
roof into the lower chambers. There is a stairway 
now, down which we crept, to the dark, damp dungeon 
below. It made the Bible seem so real to stand on the 
very spot which the feet of the apostles had pressed so 
long ago. 

As we went down the Via delli Grazie into the 
Roman Forum, I persuaded the rest to go on and leave 
me. Once alone, I sat down on a crumbling column 
in the Basilica Julia, and dreamed that the empty space 
around me was filled with the Romans of olden days, 
in their white togas. Opposite were the three graceful 
columns of the Temple of Castor ; at my left, the Arch 
of Septimus Severus ; on the heights above, the eight 
columns of the Temple of Saturn. Fleecy cloudlets 
dotted the tender blue of the sky. Presently a real 
live ancient Roman, wearing the badge of a guide, 
came along and tried to scrape acquaintance. My 
dream Romans being more inviting than this reality, I 
offered him some small change, hoping he would de- 
part. The rapidity of his exit was amazing. Moving 
on, I came to the Palace of the Vestal Virgins, where 
there were pretty flower gardens and a fountain in the 
ruins of the Court. Back of this are the huge ruined 
walls of the Palace of the Caesars, and farther on is the 



30 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

Arch of Titus with its sculptured representations of 
the spoils brought from the sacred city of the Jews, 
the seven-branched candlestick, the trumpets of the 
Jubilee, and the table of the shew-bread. Here also is 
pictured Titus returning from Jerusalem ; his face has 
been almost destroyed, not by the tooth of time it is 
said, but by stones thrown by the Jews. To this day 
no Jew will, of his free will, pass under this arch. A 
little further on, and we are at the Colosseum. It was 
not so attractive, \aewed by the light of day, as when 
I first saw it, with its massive broken arches standing- 
out clear in the bright moonlight. Then it was easy 
to imagine the Emperor in his chair of state ; to see a 
multitude of faces looking down on the little band of 
Christians in the arena ; to hear the roar of ferocious 
humanity drowning the roar of the wild beasts below. 
Now, viewed by light of garish day, I saw nothing but 
huge bare walls. 

Later in the day we went to the Church of San 
Clemente, an interesting place, built on the ruins of an 
early Christian Church ; and below this are the ruins of 
buildings of a still earlier age. We went down into 
the lower church, which our guide lighted up so that 
we could see the frescoes, some of which were very 
fine. The buildings under this, — that is, the third 
stratum, — were full of water, and we could only peer 
down a dark stairway. Next came a visit to the 
Church of San Pietro in Vincoli, to see Michael An- 
gelo's wonderful Moses ; and then we went to the Santa 
Maria in Aracoeli, to see the Bambino, which is a doll 
carved from olive wood brought from the Garden of 
Gethsemane. The priest led us up to the altar, and. 
opening the doors of the shrine, touched a spring which 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 31 

brought the glass case containing the Bambino for- 
ward from the recess behind. The doll is covered so 
thickly with jewelled rings and pins that it is a mass 
of gems. These jewels are votive offerings, and are 
valued at $1,000,000. The priest gave us each a little 
picture, which he first wiped on the glass case, thus 
making it holy. Buddie's eyes grew very large and 
round when he saw the case close and slip back out of 
sight. 

On leaving this church we drove through the city, 
across the Tiber, and up a long hill to the Church of 
San Pietro, in Montorio, built by Ferdinand and Isa- 
bella of Spain on the spot where St. Peter is said to 
have suffered martyrdom. We did not go inside this 
church, however. We went up for the magnificent 
view of the city from the Plaza before its door. More- 
over, from this vantage point one is able to survey the 
whole city, and get its different parts well fixed in 
mind. On the way back we stopped to visit the 
Methodist Orphanage, which is housed in an old con- 
vent on the Via Garibaldi. The lovely gardens of the 
convent make the place well worth visiting. 

On Thursday we began with the Pantheon. It is 
hard to realize that its walls, which are in such perfect 
preservation, have stood since the days of the Em- 
peror Hadrian. The peculiarity of the edifice is that 
it is circular, lighted only by a round opening in the 
roof. No glass protects this opening. Beautiful mar- 
bles make the interior a fit resting place for the two 
Italian kings, and the great artist Raphael, who lie 
there in their last long sleep. 

We turned from Raphael's tomb to the Santa Maria 
della Pace, where are his great paintings, the Sybils, 



32 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

and on leaving there we went to the Santa Maria 
Sopra to see Michael Angelo's Christ with the Cross, a 
wonderful marble that is spoiled by the addition of a 
bronze drapery. It was the master's intention to por- 
tray the Risen Christ, hence the figure was nude, and 
the prudish monks clothed it in these inharmonious 
garments. The right foot has a bronze shoe, to protect 
it from the kisses of the devout, which further lessens 
the majesty of the figure. 

As we alighted from the carriage at the Church of 
Santa Maria Maggiore, a picturesque peasant woman 
made overtures to our little Buddie, who wins hearts 
everywhere he goes. He was highly pleased with the 
bunch of violets she gave him. This church is one of 
the largest and handsomest in Rome. Many of the 
Popes are buried there. What interested us most was 
that the ceiling was gilded with the first gold brought 
from America, and presented to the church by Ferdi- 
nand and Isabella of Spain. In one of the chapels is 
an ancient picture of the Virgin, now almost black, re- 
puted to have been painted by St. Luke. 

In times past, San Giovanni in Laterano was the 
principal church in Rome. Under a Gothic canopy, in 
the centre of the Transept, a number of relics are kept, 
among which are said to be the heads of Saints Peter 
and Paul. This church was undergoing some cleaning 
or restoration, and part of it was boarded off. The 
Cloisters are beautiful ; there is a little garden of roses, 
surrounded by fairy-like twisted and inlaid columns. 
The Baptistery on the plaza near this church has been 
used as a model for all buildings of this kind since 440 
A. D. Think of it ! A little Roman was baptized while 
we were there. 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 



33 



Xear the Lateran is the edifice which contains the 
Santa Scala, or Holy Stairs, a flight of twenty-eight 
marble steps which were brought from the palace of 
Pilate at Jerusalem, and which tradition says our Lord 
ascended. They were brought to Rome by the Em- 
press Helena about the year 326. They are now 
covered over with boards, and the faithful ascend on 




RUINS OF THE BATHS OF CARACALLA 



their knees, saying a prayer on each step. After 
luncheon we drove over to the Regio Palazzo Quiri- 
nali as we had a permit to see the royal apartments. 
The palace is so unpretentious outside, that it is hard 
to realize that the Kings of Italy have made it their 
home for the last twenty-five years. Only a small part 
of the palace is open to visitors. The reception rooms, 
which are shown, are very rich. On leaving the palace 



34 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

we drove out of the city, past the Colosseum, through 
the Arch of Constantine and along the Appian AVay to 
the Catacombs of St. Calixtus, stopping on the way to 
visit the ruins of the Baths of Coracalla. 

I was amazed at their extent. Walls of immense 
thickness, great halls open to the sky, arched passages, 
mosaic pavements, and fragments of sculptured pillars 
still remain. Sixteen hundred people could be ac- 
commodated at one time. They did not do things on 
a small scale in those days ! 

The drive to the Catacombs is quite long. I had 
been looking forward to a drive in the country, and 
was much disappointed to find that a high stone wall, 
all the way on each side, cut off the view entirely. We 
alighted at a little gate in the wall. Inside, a broad 
walk leads away across the fields to a flower garden 
and a group of little stone houses. In the first one a 
monk was selling tickets of admission to the Cata- 
combs. We decided that we would all go down, even 
Buddie. I was a little bit frightened, for I had heard 
harrowing tales of people who had been lost in the 
gloomy depths, but nothing could have made me con- 
fess it. Another monk joined us as guide, and gave 
each one of us a candle the size of a lead pencil ; these 
were all lighted, a sight at which Buddie's eyes grew 
large. Then we started for the next little stone house, 
which turned out to be only a roof over a descending- 
stairway, down which we crept and then along a pas- 
sage-way hewn in the solid rock. Niches which had 
once been tombs honeycombed the rocks on either side- 
Here and there were chambers of considerable size, 
containing stone coffins. The floors in the passage- 
way were very uneven, and there were dark galleries 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 35 

branching out on every hand; our candles made tiny 
spots of light in the intense darkness. This Catacomb 
has four galleries, one above another, but we descended 
only as far as the second. The monk's tales of the 
martyrs, recited in those black tombs, shook us with 
vivid realization of the suffering of the early Christ- 
ians. So many were killed ; in one niche, a whole 
family of seven persons had been found. The monk 
also showed us the spot where the first bishop was 
laid. All the niches are empty now. Buddie scorched 
his hair with his candle, and after he had been put to 
bed that night was heard telling his horse all about it. 
That horse goes to bed with him every night, and is 
becoming a most highly educated beast. His little 
master tells him every night all about what he has 
seen during the day. 

We drove along the Appian Way as far as the tomb 
of Cecilia Metella, that huge circular structure with 
which we are all familiar from the numerous photo- 
graphs. Then, as the sun had set and dusk was gath- 
ering, we turned back, for we had been warned not to 
stay outside the walls of the city after dark. 

Another morning came, and was devoted to the 
Vatican Gallery and Raphael's Stanzo and Logge. In 
the first named there is not a great collection of 
pictures, but they are some of the most precious in the 
world. They are arranged in several rather small 
rooms, and among them are Raphael's glorious Trans- 
figuration and his Madonna da Foligno. 

The Logge is a gallery, formerly open to the 
weather, but now enclosed with glass. The ceiling is 
divided into thirteen sections on which are painted 
scenes from the Bible. This is known as " Raphael's 



36 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

Bible ". Further on are the series of rooms called 
Raphael's Stanze, once used as state apartments by 
the Popes. The frescoes in these rooms have the repu- 
tation of being the best of that master's work, and deal 
with events in the lives of various Popes. After this 
we spent a never-to-be-forgotten hour in the Sistine 
Chapel. On our last afternoon in Rome we went to 
the Church of the Cappuccini. In the basement of 
this church are the burial vaults of the Capuchins. 
Unlike most of these vaults, this is above ground, and 
is a long gallery, clearly lighted by a row of large 
grated windows along one side. The floor of this gal- 
lery is of earth brought from Jerusalem, — a burial 
place not only consecrated but holy. But in this lim- 
ited space there is not room for the bodies of all who 
have lived and died in the monastery alone, and so 
each new body is given the place of the one longest 
buried. Some monks of a long past generation con- 
ceived the idea of using these deposed skeletons as 
decorations for the room, a grotesque and horrible 
fantasy which has been carried on until the place now 
has the appearance of having been built up of human 
skulls and bones geometrically laid. Altar, chande- 
liers, the walls which mark off the burial alcoves, the 
arched entrance to the recesses, all are built up of 
human bones bound together by cement. In skull- 
lined niches stand the brown-robed and hooded skele- 
tons of those who have been noted men in the order. 
The monks seem to rejoice that they shall some day 
rest here ; but to us the place was so dismal and so 
unnerving that we hurried out to the cheerful shops 
and diverted our minds by tumbling over the soft, 
rich-colored Roman sashes ; and after that a tea with 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 37 

an American friend and a visit to Crandon Hall, the 
Methodist College for women, drove away the last 

traces of gloom. At Crandon Hall, we all shook hands 

with the granddaughter of Garibaldi. She is one of 

the teachers there. 



38 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 



V 

The Continental Hotel, Cairo. 

ROME was just waking up to a new day when 
the " Familae Brown ", as the Italians at the 
hotels call us, drove through the city to take the 
eight o'clock train for Brindisi. There was conster- 
nation in our omnibus ; somebody had lost a ticket, 
and a wild search through pockets and handbags was 
carried on to no purpose. A telephone from the sta- 
tion to the hotel brought the answer : Yes, something 
had been found ; and, after expectant waiting, a smil- 
ing boy on a bicycle brought triumphantly forth from 
his pockets — a pair of old slippers ! And thus we 
left Rome. 

The trip we had planned to the Holy Land had to 
be given up. There is perpetual quarantine between 
Port Said and Jaffa, two days' delay at each place. 
That would make us miss the China, on which our pas- 
sage for Colombo had been taken long ago. It might 
be months before we could secure berths again for our 
whole party, and we had no desire to sojourn long in 
Port Said. There are no places of interest to us there ; 
it is only a sort of half-way station for travellers who 
come in on one steamer and leave on the next. The 
streets are full of hurrying people ; not such a crowd 
as one sees elsewhere, — all natives except for a few 
English tourists. Here there are twenty nationalities, 
and there are men on business, shippers and traders 
and agents, as well as mere pleasure seekers. It is 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 39 

amusing to read the signs along the street, — French, 
Portuguese, Dutch, — many in strange letters that we 
could not even guess at. Funniest of all was the nice 
division of honors on the street cars ; " Tramway de 
Port Said " they were labelled. 

The train ride of four and a half hours from Port 
Said to Cairo was delightful, in spite of the fine sand 




PORT SAID 

that blew in at the windows and covered everything. 
For more than an hour the Suez Canal was in sight ; 
then we ran along beside wide fields of corn or cotton, 
and as we ate our luncheon in the comfortable dining 
car we looked out on life which must have been much 
the same in Old Testament days, the fellaheen plowing 
or digging their fields by hand, and blindfolded cattle 
working the windlass that drew water from the wells. 



40 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

Between the fields and the train was a wide irrigating 
ditch, in which thick patches of lotus grew. On the 
other side of the ditch a road was raised high above 
the fields. Along this road flowed a continuous stream 
of life, — camels, donkeys, people on foot or riding, 
children playing, my lord riding a loaded camel, my 
lady trudging at his side. It was the time of the great 
Mohammedan holiday, the feast of Ramadan. Cairo 
was the centre of attraction ; and at every station 
crowds struggled to get on board. 

The Continental is one of the largest of the Cairo 
hotels, and as this is the height of the season, one 
might almost fancy oneself in England, if it were not 
for the Arab and French servants. Cairo is a fasci- 
nating place. It would be long before I should tire of 
watching the life on the streets. Arabs, in long flow- 
ing robes, Jews, Mohammedans, tall black men from 
the Soudan, English soldiers, officers, English ladies, 
donkeys, tram cars, and handsome carriages all mingle 
in confusion. New Cairo has beautiful, wide, shady 
streets, and handsome buildings ; but old Cairo is even 
more interesting, with its narrow streets swarming 
with life, its tall houses with their dungeon-like rooms 
opening directly onto the street, and their upper floors 
of coarse lattice work, through which dark eyes shine, 
its bazaars with their rugs and oriental curios, and the 
people themselves, — here a water-carrier with his 
goatskin full of water, there a swarthy man in a huge 
green turban, and there again some Bedouins in flow- 
ing bernouses. The street is a moving mass of color. 
It is comical to see men in long white robes riding on 
donkeys so small that the man's feet almost touch the 
ground. Then there are scores of two-wheeled donkey 






ROUND THE WORLD .IN SILENCE 



41 



carts, on which are squatting a half dozen black-robed 
women, with black veils fastened to their noses by a 
gold spiral. Beside the donkey walks the master of 
the harem. 

A Ye saw the spot where Moses is supposed to have 
been found, and a house built where Alary and Joseph 




A VEILED MOHAMMEDAN WOMAN 



with the infant Jesus are said to have rested on their 
flight into Egypt. We have also been to the Mosque 
Sultan Hassan, a colossal building, but in a ruinous 
condition. Workmen were there restoring it, and they 
showed us a wonderful door of bronze and silver. 
This Mosque is not far from the Citadel, to which we 
proceeded next, going through the gateway and up 



42 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

the steep and narrow road which was the scene of the 
massacre of the Marmeluke Beys. There is a glorious 
view from a corner of the fortifications. The Alabaster 
Mosque is within these walls, and while the rest went 
in, Buddie and I sat in the carriage and had the amuse- 
ment of watching people take off and put on their 
shoes as they went in or came out. When the rest 
came back, we took our turn, Buddie in his stocking 
feet, and I with a huge pair of yellow slippers tied on 
over my shoes. This Mosque is the burial place of 
Mehemet Ali, the Sultan who ordered the massacre of 
the Marmelukes. 

Most wonderful of all, we have seen the Pyramids. 
I can hardly realize that it is not a dream. We drove 
across the city to the electric tramway, which starts 
from the other side of the Kiser-en-Nil bridge, and 
were soon spinning away along a fine, broad, well-kept 
road, on one side shaded by large trees, and on the 
other side flanked by a high stone wall, behind which 
we had an occasional peep at a stuccoed villa in its 
garden, or at wide areas of land under water. Father 
Nile is doing well for the country this year. All the 
while the distant Pyramids lured us on. These are 
known as the Pyramids of Ghizeh. At the end of the 
car line, a crowd of Egyptians with camels and 
donkeys were in waiting, and our guide soon had us 
all mounted on camels with a boy to lead each beast. 
I had a nice, clean, intelligent-looking boy, but I ap- 
proached the camel allotted me with some trepidation. 
It was sitting on the ground and turned a kindly eye 
on me as I came up ; all there was for me to do was to 
arrange myself in the saddle. My boy looked at me 
encouragingly, showed me the proper way to hold on, 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 43 

by grasping the horn of the saddle in front with one 
hand, and that in the rear with the other. So far all 
went well, then came the surprise of my life, — a ter- 
rible earthquake began as my beast untangled his front 
legs, and then as I still stuck on, though much on the 
bias, another earthquake behind followed and there I 
was away up in the air, with my mount standing on 
all four feet. Once moving, it was perfectly delight- 
ful. No queen upon her throne could have been hap- 
pier than I as I rode up the hillside, enjoying the gentle 
motion, and the beautiful view that unrolled itself as 
we went along. We did not stop at the Pyramid on 
the top of the hill, but went on, descending on the 
other side into the hollow in which the Sphinx lies. 
The figure has been so mutilated that it has lost much 
of the impassive character it must have had. Near by 
is the Temple of the Sphinx, nearly covered by the 
drifting sand, — a wonderful place built of huge 
blocks of granite four or five feet thick and five or six 
feet long. I wonder how those immense blocks of 
stone were brought to the desert. They are not joined 
squarely, but with the corners hewn from the stone. 
One of the chambers was lined with huge blocks of 
rough alabaster. 

Riding around the Great Pyramid one is impressed 
by its immensity. It is said to cover thirteen acres of 
ground. Mr. Brown, with a retinue of Egyptians to 
push and pull him, began the ascent. The rest of us, 
content to allow him all the glory, turned our faces 
cityward, stopping off the tramway, when half way 
there, to visit the Zoological Garden. Then Buddie 
was happy ! Such a beautiful garden it was, too, with 
its luxuriance of flowers, huge hibiscus, canna six feet 



44 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

high, roses and jessamine, its wonderful grottoes, its 
walks paved with mosaic of pebbles of different colors. 
But most interesting of all, to me, was the crowd of 
holiday makers, little girls in gay ruffled dresses, black- 
clad women with veils across the lower part of the 
face, — does that spiral fastening the veil to the nose 
hurt, I wonder, — men and boys attired in red fez, 
red slippers, and an European coat over a flannel or 
calico " Mother Hubbard " that came down to the 
ankles. Yesterday we took the trip to Sakhara. I 
had breakfast very early in order to have time to go 
and buy a straw outing hat before starting. There 
were several French milliners near the hotel, but all 
their attendants were Orientals. Perhaps Madame had 
not yet risen, anyway I had an interesting time trying 
to make my wants understood. They insisted on 
showing me their most elaborate creations, but per- 
sistence, plain English, and some French not so plain, 
finally won the day, and I hurried back to the hotel 
much elated. The express train for Bedrasheen leaves 
Cairo at half past nine, and it is a ride of an hour. We 
left the train at a little station full of natives, and, as 
the donkeys for which our guide had arranged were 
waiting, we were soon mounted and cantering away. 
Bedrasheen itself is on the bank of a little river, and 
is a typical native village of low mud houses, whose 
inhabitants were pursuing their various occupations 
in the narrow street. They eyed us with great curi- 
osity as we passed. To add to the interest, a train of 
loaded camels came around a corner; the inhabitants 
already on the ground paid no attention to requests to 
move, and as the camels stayed not for man or beast, 
we had almost to climb the walls, donkeys and all, to 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 45 

get out of the way. Once clear of the village the road 
lay along a high bank, looking down on flooded fields 
on either hand, where men were at work in the thick 
black mud. One could but marvel at their exceeding 
patience, digging over those wide fields by hand. 
After half an hour of riding along this high bank, 
which wound, serpent-wise, across the fields, we came 
to more level ground dotted with scattered palm trees. 
Two colossal statues of Rameses II, the Pharaoh of 
the Israelites, are in this grove. We came first to the 
smaller statue, standing free and unwatched in the 
open air. A little farther on is the other, which has 
been covered by a high wooden shed in order that an 
admission fee may be charged. It reminded me of a 
ponderous side show left stranded by some circus. An 
undignified idea, wasn't it? But it was still more like 
one inside, where a stairway led up to a bridge from 
which we looked down at the great statue flat on the 
ground. After leaving the little grove, our path lay 
through the ruins of Memphis, one of the oldest cities 
in the world. The prophecy of Jeremiah that Memphis 
should become a desert has been fulfilled. Almost 
nothing remains of the city. After leaving Memphis 
we soon came to high sand hills, and rode through the 
desolate sand, up and on in the burning sun, until we 
came to a deep cut in the hill, walled with masonry on 
either side. This was the entrance to the Tomb of 
Mera, who was, according to the guide book, an 
Egyptian official of rank, about 3000 B. C. Its cham- 
bers are richly decorated with paintings and bas- 
reliefs recording the various interests and occupations 
of the dead Mera. In one painting Mera is playing 
chess, — chess three thousand years before Christ ! 



46 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 



One can trace the whole life of the ancient Egyptians 
here, eating, fighting, holding a lotus flower. In some 
places Mera is colossal, surrounded by smaller figures, 




ON THE WAY TO MEMPHIS 



a naive way of pointing out the difference between 
him and his subordinates. 

Mounting again, we rode on to the Tomb of priest 
Thi, which is almost covered with sand ; the excavation 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 47 

to the entrance, like that to the Tomb of Mera, is 
banked up with masonry to hold back the drifting 
sand. Inside, also, this tomb resembles that of Mera, 
but it is more elaborate, and the colors of the paintings 
are wonderfully vivid, while those in Mera's tomb are 
rather dull. Another ride over the drifted sand, and 
we came to the excavation before the entrance to the 
Serapeum, where the mummies of the sacred bulls 
were buried. Inside there is a high, wide gallery, with 
rocky walls. Our guide was provided with candles 
and a torch, which shed a feeble light on the intense 
darkness ; and we stumbled over the uneven floors and 
through long dark galleries, until we came to the series 
of chambers, on either side of a gallery, in which the 
mummies were found. There are over twenty of these 
chambers, each containing a huge stone sarcophagus 
about fourteen feet long and ten feet high. In one of 
the chambers a ladder had been placed at the side of 
the coffin, and its cover had been moved back. One 
by one, we climbed the ladder, to look down on — 
emptiness. This mausoleum was discovered by Mari- 
ette, the celebrated Egyptologist, in 1860, and the stone 
coffins are said to weigh sixty-five tons each. What 
wonderful skill and resourcefulness those ancient 
Egyptians had ! The guide told me that when Mari- 
ette first entered one of these tombs he found in the 
sand that covered the floor, the footprints of the work- 
men who, thirty-seven hundred years before, had laid 
the mummy in its tomb and closed the tomb, — 
never, they thought, to be opened. 

We ate our luncheon in the lonely little house in the 
desert, once used by Mariette. It was a rude little 
place, stable and rest-house all under one roof. On 



48 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

dismounting from our donkeys, we walked into a large 
room, open on three sides, and furnished with long 
wooden tables and benches. This was already pretty 
well filled with tourists. Our guide captured the first 
empty table, and was soon arranging linen, china and 
silver from the lunch crates he had brought from the 
Continental Hotel. It was a nice luncheon, and our 
strenuous morning had prepared us to do it full jus- 
tice. I was very anxious to get some pictures of our 
party on the donkeys, but our guide would not stop 
for anything; he hustled us on to our donkeys and 
started the cavalcade as soon as we finished eating. 
I wish you could have seen our procession! There 
were the six of us on donkeys, and the guide on an- 
other, a man to run beside and belabor each beast, 
two more men to carry the crates of luncheon, another 
man to carry my twine bag. It was a wonder that no 
more men had insisted on going with us. We made 
the return journey by a shorter and easier way, and 
passed the Step Pyramid, supposed to be the oldest 
historic building in the world. When we reached the 
road again, our donkey boys whipped up our beasts 
to the best of their speed, and as they evidently knew 
they were on the home stretch they were willing to 
go. We bumped and pounded along. It was great 
fun, and I am sure that for people who had never been 
donkey riding before, we did remarkably well. Bedra- 
sheen station was reached about fifteen minutes before 
our train was due, and on the homeward ride we had 
beautiful views of the sunset on the Nile and the 
Pyramids. At one place, when the train stopped, I 
saw a Mohammedan saying his prayers while waiting 
for his train. He spread out a bit of carpet, and, lay- 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 49 

ing his bundle and staff down beside it, knelt there in 
the midst of the crowd. His train coming as he was 
in the midst of his devotions, he gathered up bundle, 
staff and carpet and made a wild leap aboard. 

They tell me it is most interesting to hear the 
various languages, English, French, Arabic, Russian 
and Soudanese being spoken around us all the time. 




IN EGYPT. — ON THE WAY TO SAKHARA 

The Egyptian money is more difficult to understand 
than any I ever saw before. I do not know what 
would have become of me if I had not had a card 
given me at Port Said with pictures of the various 
coins, the exact size of the real article. These cards 
have helped me through many a difficulty. We have 
a guide who goes everywhere with us, but I have been 
out shopping alone twice in the region near the hotel. 



50 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

I bought postal cards yesterday at a tiny shop near 
by ; the boy was very intelligent, I had my coin card 
with me, and by its means we got on nicely over the 
money. 

This morning every one except me went to church. 
The service was all in Arabic, they say. Down the 
middle of the church ran a red curtain, dividing it into 
two parts. On one side of this curtain sat the men, 
on the other side the women. Quite an improvement 
on Quaker fashion, isn't it? One can't even look 
across the aisle. 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 51 



VI 
P. and O. S. S. China, in the Indian Ocean. 

BEFORE we land in Colombo, I want to tell you 
about the rest of our time in Egypt, and about 
our voyage. 
We had to rise betimes that last morning of our 
stay in Cairo. On account of the fete of Ramadan, the 
world-famed Museum had been closed ever since our 
arrival, and it was to reopen that morning. After we 
had wrestled with the Turkish money in paying our 
hotel bills, and prepared everything for our departure, 
we set out for the Museum. The fact that its official 
catalogue fills ten volumes will give you an idea of its 
size, consequently we tried to see the part of the col- 
lection most interesting to us, the mummies of the 
Pharaohs and of the sacred bulls whose tombs we had 
invaded at Sakhara. It was hard to realize that we 
were actually gazing on the features of the Pharaohs 
of the Oppression and of the Exodus. There is no hint 
of the mightiness and glory of the Egyptians in these 
shrivelled, soulless bodies, stacked and labelled for 
coolly interested inspection. It was getting dark when 
we got out of our rowboats at the China's gangway, 
and ascended to her crowded, brilliantly-lighted decks. 
My roommate is a jolly young English lady en route 
from London to join her husband at Bangkok. Our 
room is large and well situated, but not as. con- 
veniently arranged as the one I had on the Irene ; 
there are no wardrobes, so we have a great time 



52 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

pulling our trunks out from under the berths when- 
ever we want anything, and then pushing them back 
again. Luckily for us, we have an upper deck room, 
so the heat has not been unbearable but our friends 
whose rooms are on the lower deck have suffered all 
the way. There are only ten of us Americans in the 
first cabin. 

The dining saloon is really a very pretty sight. The 
English ladies all wear such beautiful dresses and 
jewels. The China plies between London, Australia 
and New Zealand, so it is a long journey for some of 
these people. I had my introduction to the punkah 
the first evening at dinner. It is a long board done up 
in a ruffled case, and, by an arrangement of ropes, it is 
kept in motion by a boy outside the door; the cooling 
breeze it makes is most welcome. 

The steamer waited at Port Said until afternoon for 
the arrival of the Osiris with the mails, and all morn- 
ing the decks looked like an Oriental bazaar, for the 
people from shore were allowed to bring their wares 
on board and there was such an array of jewelry, laces, 
embroidery, glittering silver-wrought shawls, and 
postal cards spread out on the deck, that we had to 
move carefully not to step on something. Over the 
side, boys were diving for pennies, and boats with 
serenaders surrounded us. About two o'clock the 
decks were cleared, and we began to move. It took 
us all night to go through the Canal, though it is only 
a hundred miles long. The man who knows every- 
thing told us it costs $10,000 to get a ship the size of 
the China through, and that it was not De Lesseps, 
but an Englishman named Waghorn who conceived 
the idea of that canal, but as he died some vears before 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 53 

the work was begun, De Lesseps had all the glory. 
About nine o'clock we came to a stop, and had a long 
wait while a number of war vessels passed us. They 
came out of the darkness into the glare of our search- 
light, and faded into the darkness again, like phantoms. 
There was not a soul visible on their decks. 

When I woke in the morning we had stopped at 
Suez, in the Red Sea, at the end of the canal. What 
we could see of the town from the ship was alluring, 
but the stop was not long enough to allow going 
ashore. I think the Red Sea must have taken its 
name from the beautiful coloring of the low mountain 
ranges that border its shores, for its waters are a 
bright sapphire blue. The only sign of life anywhere 
was at the Wells of Moses. The hills around there are 
sandy, and a little fringe of trees marks the fountains 
or wells. This is the spot where tradition places the 
crossing of the Children of Israel. 

We reached Aden at six o'clock in the evening. A 
few minutes later the moon rose. We could see only 
the silvery ripple of the water, the dim harbor outlines, 
and the dark mountains on the shore, dotted with 
twinkling lights. 

The Bombay steamer was at anchor near us, and a 
hundred and twenty of our passengers were trans- 
ferred to her. The guide-book speaks of this trans- 
shipment as being very unpleasant; but it certainly 
did not look so at this time, for when the tender 
sailed away from us, full of ladies and gentlemen in 
evening dress, it seemed as if they were merely going 
over for a dance. I was greatly interested in watching 
the unloading of the cargo. Huge baskets filled with 
long whitish blocks were being raised from the hold 



54 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENXE 

and carefully lowered over the side. Below were sev- 
eral huge flat-bottomed boats, in which some half 
dozen bushy-headed natives, simply attired in brace- 
lets, were dancing, and at intervals glancing up at the 
descending baskets. When the baskets came within 
reach, they would pause in their dance long enough to 
seize them, take out the blocks, and lay them in rows 
that glistened in the moonlight. We questioned a 
passing officer. " Bar silver from America ", he an- 
swered. Further along more black men, in a row- 
boat, were doing a brisk trade in gaily-colored grass 
baskets, which were being drawn up to our deck by a 
rope, the money being lowered in another basket. 
Other natives had invaded the deck, and were selling 
ostrich feathers and fans. How they had managed to 
climb the towering side with their fragile burden was 
something I could not understand. Altogether the 
three hours of our stay at Aden were full of excite- 
ment and interest. 

This ship has almost no motion and the heat has in- 
creased with each day. The steward put a big metal 
funnel, shaped like a flour-scoop, into our porthole. 
It is splendid at catching the breezes and bringing 
them into the room, and it is also good at bringing in 
the water, as we found the other night. The China 
must have gone into a swell, for about two o'clock, 
when we were all sleeping soundly, I was awakened 
by a splash of water on my face. I sat up with a start. 
But before I realized what had happened, the little 
English woman had switched on the light, pulled out 
the funnel, and closed the port hole. Water dripped 
from the ceiling, and everything was wet. We camped 
out the best way we could until morning, when we 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 55 

found that little damage had been done, except that a 
pretty lace hat that was hanging on the wall was 
streaked with rust. 

There is a very lively set in this cabin. They have 
" sports " on the deck every afternoon, and dancing 
every evening, when there is not a concert or a ball. 
The Fancy-dress Ball the other night was a very 
pretty affair, and the beauty and variety of the cos- 
tumes shown would have done credit to any occasion. 
My roommate has a young nephew, seventeen or 
eighteen, whom she dressed up as a baby in a white 
frock, a lace cap which I made, a blue sash and blue 
shoulder knots. The boy, who has pink cheeks and 
infantile blue eyes, looked so " cute " that the judges 
could not resist awarding him a prize. These English 
people are never still ; they are not happy unless they 
are doing something, and doing it with all their might, 
too. It seems to me too hot for any exertion, but they 
are having cricket on deck now, with a net around 
them to keep the balls from going overboard or doing 
execution among us. Every day they have a tug of 
war, and races of all kinds ; and the women join heart- 
ily in everything. 

We have just passed the Maldive Islands, and, 
pointing upward, like a slender white finger, from a 
sandy streak in the blue water, is the light-house they 
call the " Light of Asia." Tomorrow we shall land in 
Colombo. 



56 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 



VII 

Madras. 

THERE was such excitement on board, on our 
last day on the China. Stewards were packing 
deck chairs and piling them up on the deck, 
until, before noon, there was hardly a seat to be found. 
Down below, other stewards were taking the baggage 
from the rooms and heaping it in the passage-way. 
Passengers were rushing hither and thither, restoring 
borrowed traps, collecting their belongings, saying the 
last vital things which could not be left unsaid ; even 
those who were not going to land caught the fever, 
and tore about on a thousand inspired errands. It 
grew hotter and hotter. Early in the afternoon we 
sailed into the harbor, and the anchor was lowered. 
Then arose a turmoil compared with which the morn- 
ing's excitement seemed peace. The gangway had 
hardly been let down before the crowded decks were 
invaded by a fresh swarm from the shore, health- 
officers, runners from the different hotels, curio deal- 
ers, tea planters come to meet their wives and fami- 
lies, young fellows to meet their sweethearts. It 
looked so hot on the water that we told the man from 
the Bristol Hotel we would wait until his launch made 
its second trip, so that by the time we left the ship, it 
was nearly deserted ; everybody had gone off to stay 
over night for the China ball at the Galle Face Hotel. 
By the time we landed, darkness had fallen. The 
Bristol is close to the quay, and I turned from the 






ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 



57 



sweet-scented night into its wide halls, with arcade 
open to the street, where all sorts of fascinating things 
were for sale and bright-faced, quaintly-dressed 
Cingalese begged us to " Come buy ". 

Then we mounted the stairs to our large cool rooms, 
furnished with electric fans, rugs that I coveted, and 
white beds, shrouded in mosquito netting. The arched 




IX COLOMBO 



windows, guiltless of glass, looked out on green tree- 
tops, and down on an electric street car line and a 
score of " jinrickisha boys ", their satin-like brown skin 
shining in the lamp light. 

It is at Colombo that the witchery of the East takes 
hold upon one. Already I am planning to come again, 
if possible. There is a " pull " about the place that is 
irresistible. It is embowered in green trees and 



58 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 



shrubs, with fragrant flowers everywhere ; the roads 
are fine and hard, the streets are lighted with gas, but 
most bewitching of all are the people. They are so 
quaint as to clothes, or lack of them, so bright-eyed 
and smiling. Men and women alike wear their beauti- 
ful silky hair long, and do it up in a knot at the back. 




STREET SCENE IN COLOMBO 



with a curious round comb around the top of the head. 
All of them are handsome. 

I found it difficult to get accustomed to the swarm 
of servants at the hotel. Squatted on the hall floor 
outside each door were two men draped round about 
with yards and yards of white stuff. They are always 
ready to bounce in, at any instant. Hitherto, England 
has been always with us, but here I realize that I am 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 



59 




60 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 



in the East. I had a beautiful drive to Mount Lavinia, 
where there is a pretty little hotel on the seashore, in 
the midst of palms and flowers. The way lay through 
Victoria Park, once the Cinnamon Gardens, and then 
through a suburb of thatched cottages, surrounded by 
tropical growth. The road swarmed with life slow- 



W '^\. ' 






&9Tn HI 


mm 


PI 


w W^mw^'' 








Hta 


-— - 



ENTRANCE TO THE TEMPLE OF THE) HOLY TOOTH. 
KANDY, CEYLON 



moving bullock-carts, jinrickishas, women on foot with 
fat brown babies astride their hips. Such a gay, 
bright-eyed, lightly-clad people. The women and little 
naked children in the doorways waved their hands and 
called out " Salaam ! " I never saw so many pretty 
children. Little boys, dressed in a string of beads 
around the waist, and bracelets on arms and ankles, 
ran long distances beside our carriage begging. Most 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 61 

of them seemed to do it more for the fun of it than 
anything else. Molly said one of them called to me 
over and over again, " Be my good mother and give 
me money ! " Another one said, " God bless you, 
lady, give me money ! " This seemed to be the extent 
of their English. 

Another day was spent in an excursion to Kandy. 
We left Colombo at half past seven, and for more than 
four hours the train carried us through a luxuriant 
tangle of green, climbing heights from which we 
looked down on wide stretches of terraced rice fields, 
— a land of strange and interesting things. We had 
breakfast in the dining car, and, later, at the toy sta- 
tions, embowered in flowers, where they sold strange 
fruit, we bought cocoanuts, from which the seller 
deftly cut a portion of the top, showing the interior 
full of milk. To drink from the nut without pouring 
the contents all over oneself was an art that had to be 
acquired. 

Picturesque Kandy nestles in a hollow around a 
gem-like lake, and is as dear to Buddhists as Jerusa- 
lem to Christians and Mecca to the Mohammedans ; 
for this is where the treasured relic, Buddha's tooth is 
kept, shrined on a lotus flower of purest gold, under 
seven bell-shaped shrines, each one more richly 
jewelled and ornamented than the last, the whole 
within a richly carved temple. 

The time for departure came all too soon, and the 
ride back in the heat of the afternoon was warm and 
tedious ; but the jinrickisha ride from the station to the 
hotel was pure delight. After dinner three of us grew 
homesick, and went over to the cable office near by 
to send word of inquiry home. The answer to mine 



62 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 



was brought me as I was leaving my room at half past 
eight the next morning. From Colombo to New York 
and back inside of twelve hours ! What a little old 
world it is after all ! 

That last day at Colombo was a busy one. I went 
out shopping all by myself that morning, having the 
hotel door-keeper engage a jinrickisha for me, and in- 
struct my man where to go. A native, running along 




THE TEMPLE OE THE HOLY TOOTH. — KANDY, CEYLOX 



beside my conveyance, attached himself to me, and 
proved useful as a guide. It was great fun, for the 
two men, the man who pulled the carriage and the 
guide, were so bright that though none of us under- 
stood a word that was said they knew what I wanted 
at once. For instance, when I pretended to wind up 
my kodak, they instantly started off and in five min- 
utes I was put down at a photographer's, where I 
found the films I wanted. Matches and alcohol for my 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 



63 



lamp were a little more difficult to find, but were also 
obtained. 

Cingalese currency is not at all difficult to under- 
stand ; and in the stores the salesmen obligingly tell 
one the amount in English money, with which most 
people are more or less familiar. 

Late in the afternoon of our last day at Colombo, 
we went down to the wharf to go out to the Pundua, 




A CATAMARAN. — COLOMBO 



which could be seen at some distance out in the harbor. 
There was no tender, and the only way to reach her 
was by rowboat. The waves ran high, threatening to 
swamp our little boat ; and the four natives, with their 
queer spoon-shaped oars, seemed unable to make any 
headway. The boat bobbed up and down until we 
were nearly seasick; then at last we came near the 
steamer, only to be swept away again. One by one 
we had to jump for the gangway as the boat was la- 



64 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

boriously brought into position. We had to be quick 
about it, too, before it was swept away again. It was 
a thrilling time. One man had his little boy, who had 
been very ill, on a pi -11 ow in his arms, as he made the 
leap. I thought of you all at home, with a big lump 
in my throat ; and oh, how thankful I was when we 
were all safe on board. The boat pitched about so 
dreadfully all night that there was not much sleep for 
us ; but towards morning we got into smoother water, 
and anchored off Tuticorin about seven o'clock. We 
were taken ashore in a steam launch which lurched so 
much that, during most of the half hour's ride, our 
chairs were sliding back and forth and we were clutch- 
ing desperately at anything and everything that came 
in our way. Our entry into India was scarcely what 
rosy dreams had pictured, — a scramble from launch 
to wharf, and a walk down the long pier to the land, 
where a picket fence kept us from straying, and held 
back begging natives. There was no beauty in the 
landscape. We saw just a flat sandy plain, a waiting 
train, two little plastered houses, some English Cus- 
toms inspectors and an army of sad-eyed natives. A 
procession of natives followed us up the pier, each man 
laden with trunks and bags ; they carried everything 
on their heads, even the heaviest of the trunks. At 
the feet of the inspectors the luggage was all dumped 
on the sand, in the burning sun. Suit-cases and hand- 
bags were opened ; each trunk had to be weighed. It 
was a long time before all the steamer passengers 
were dismissed to the patient train. Our carriage, 
being first-class, proved very comfortable ; along each 
side of the compartment ran a long, wide, thickly 
cushioned leather seat. The car was entered from the 



ROUXD THE WORLD IN SILENCE 65 

side, and at one end was a little dressing room, at the 
other a window opened into a " Servants' Compart- 
ment ". From Tuticorin to Madras is an all-day and 
all-night ride. The country was at first very flat and 
well cultivated, but as the day wore on it became 
wilder and mountainous. Dinner was served in the 
station dining room at Trichinopoly Junction, the 
train waiting meanwhile. 

As night came on we began to feel lonely ; the 
Browns had been left at Kandy, and all at once it 
seemed to come to us that Ave were four women far 
from home, and that our little compartment was bare 
and comfortless. There was no glitter of mirrors and 
gilding, no soft plush cushions, no lordly brown porter 
to unearth a hidden store of sheets, pillows and warm 
blankets, as in our luxurious " Overland " trains. The 
train sped on through the dark ; but as no one appeared 
to do anything for us, we climbed up to investigate the 
straps that held the two upper berths to the ceiling, 
found they were not difficult to manage, and made up 
our beds with our store of wadded quilts, purchased 
at Colombo, steamer rugs, and pillows. Morning- 
broke dark and rainy, and the tea basket the Grays 
had bought in Colombo was opened and we grew 
cheerful over its contents. Madras was reached at 
eight o'clock in a pouring rain which continued the 
whole time of our stay. We were met by some 
American residents, and by an army of coolies who 
fairly fought over our baggage. It seemed as if we 
should never get it all sorted out and labelled, as was 
necessary to show that we had passed the customs at 
Tuticorin. At last all that was over, and Ave four 
squeezed into one of the smallest cabs I ever saw, 



66 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

drawn by one of those miserable little horses that 
seem to be a specialty of Madras. 

Our friends took us first of all to see a Christian 
native wedding, where the bride, dressed in white and 
barefoot, was attended by a score of pretty little girls, 
as demure as possible, all barefooted, like the bride, 
and dressed alike in full white skirts and turkey-red 
jackets. As soon as the ceremony was over, our 
friends took us to the Young Women's Christian As- 
sociation, where they had engaged rooms for us. This 
was an attractive building in the midst of extensive 
walled grounds of its own. Our rooms were very 
pleasant and nicely furnished. A pretty native girl 
brought us tea. The cement floors of our rooms had 
" just been washed ", she said, and, my dear, those 
floors were still as wet as ever when we left Madras 
the next day, driven away by the weather. If one day 
of the monsoon is like that, how intolerable months of 
it must be ! We had to Avear our rubbers all the time 
we were in the rooms, and all the brass work, locks, 
and buckles on our baggage became tarnished or rusty 
at once. Gloves and shoes had the uncomfortable feel- 
ing of wet leather. Our one day in Madras we spent 
trying to direct the stupidest driver I ever saw. A 
gharry was called to take us to visit the School of Art. 
The driver misunderstood, and took us to the School 
of Music ; so it was some time before we got around to 
the right place. But when we did find it we were well 
repaid for our trouble. It was so interesting to see 
the boys at work modelling in plaster, doing wood- 
carving, engraving on brass and making designs. 
Some of them were making very beautiful and perfect 
drawings of an exquisite repousse brass dish with 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 67 

cover. From the School we went to the Moore Mar- 
ket, a huge red brick building, where provisions, fruit, 
dry goods, and millinery were all displayed in little 
stalls. We had been told before we left the house that 
we would be taking our lives in our hands if we did 
not purchase toupees (pitch hats) at once, so we went 
to the market for them. Think of it! They are hard, 
heavy, ugly things that wobble around on our heads ; 
however, anything is better than having a sunstroke. 

We wanted to see the Cathedral and the Museum ; 
but the man was so stupid we could do nothing with 
him, and after driving around in purposeless fashion 
for an hour or so, in the vain hope that a ray of light 
would dawn upon him, we gave it up and went home, 
deciding on the way to leave for Bangalore the next 
evening. So my memories of Madras will be — wet 
roads, dripping trees, and long stretches of stuccoed 
garden walls of a uniform discolored and mouldy yel- 
low, all seen from the front seat of a gharry. 



68 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 



VIII 
The Taj Mahal Hotel, Bombay. 

I HAD just time to seal up my letter at Madras, 
when they called me to leave for the train. We 
travelled second-class this time ; the only differ- 
ence in the car is that instead of four berths, there are 




OUR TRUNKS BEING LOADED. — BANGALORE 

five ; and one can have more luggage on a first-class 
ticket than on a second-class. It was six o'clock, and 
still quite dark, when our train came to a stop at 
Bangalore station. Not knowing that we were so near 
our destination, we were just about to make some tea, 



ROUND THE WORLD IX SILENCE 



69 



and had to throw away the hot water and hurry out 
on the platform. The hand of a good Samaritan 
stretched forth from the chill darkness ; a kind mis- 
sionary gathered up our belongings, and, stowing us 
in a gharry, sent us to the Girls' High School, a board- 
ing school, where, as it was vacation time, they could 




THE HOUSE WHERE WE STAYED WHEX AT BANGALORE 



give us rooms and board. It was here that we began 
having meals at Indian hours, — chota hazari or little 
breakfast, of toast and tea, at seven o'clock, breakfast 
at eleven, tiffin at three, dinner at seven. We began 
to get acquainted with curry, too. It was served on 
everything. We ate gingerly at first, but after a little 
practice we could swallow whole mouthfuls without 
a tear. I was taken to see the school's kitchen, which 
was in a little house bv itself, as Indian kitchens 



70 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 



always are. There was no stove and no chimney, 
nothing but a sort of range built up of mud, like a 
large square box with holes in the top. The fire is 
made inside this box. It is past my understanding- 
how the cooks can turn out such excellent food, and 
that so promptly. 

Bangalore is a summer resort, three thousand feet 







IN THE IvAL BAGH. — BANGALORE 

above the sea level. They call it the Garden of 
Southern India. The city has a beautiful park with a 
small menagerie, fine public buildings, excellent roads, 
and good English shops that are like our department 
stores on a small scale, with drugs, stationery, and 
canned goods, — everything seems to be canned here. 
For dry goods, one must go to the native bazaar. 
Some of these shops are beautifully arranged. After 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 



71 



a couple of days spent in resting and trying to get our- 
selves accustomed to this strange land, we started for 
Hyderabad. The road to the station was gay with 
banners, and lined with native cavalry ; the station 
itself was screened with canvas and decorated with 
potted plants and beautiful rugs. The native prince 
was expected ; but, to my disappointment, he did not 
arrive before our train left. 




WOMEN BESIDE THE ROAD. — BANGALORE 



India is a land of magnificent distances. We were 
twenty-four hours on the way to Hyderabad. At six 
o'clock in the morning we had to change cars, and 
again at one o'clock. At the station they sell meal 
tickets which are, except for color, exactly the same 
as the railway tickets, and one evening, when the light 
was dim, T gave up the wrong ticket. They followed 



72 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

me to the train and explanations under difficulties fol- 
lowed. The native manager of the dining-room, being 
a person of sour disposition, was unkind enough to 
think I would cheat him even after he received his 
meal ticket. It took a good deal of persuasion to get 
him to give up my train ticket. He was so unpleasant 
that I was overjoyed when our train moved away and 
I saw the last of him. 

At Hyderabad we met with that Indian institution, 
the string bed. It is a simple frame work of poles, 
across which is stretched a closely-woven netting of 
coarse twine, which, about a foot from the frame at 
the lower end, narrows to a twisted rope. It looks 
like a hammock cut in two crosswise and laid on a 
frame which in turn is supported by four legs. One 
sees string beds everywhere, in the bungalows, in the 
yards of the native houses, and sometimes on the 
streets. Those given us at Hyderabad were the ne 
plus ultra of string beds, made of broad strips of web- 
bing woven on heavy frames. They are as comfort- 
able as any spring bed. Though we were staying at a 
private house, and nearly half the bungalow had been 
given up to us, our rooms were furnished only with 
beds, dressing tables, and bathing apparatus ; such 
things as bedding, towels, and soap, Ave were expected 
to supply ourselves, according to Indian custom. 

Hyderabad is the capital of the territory of His 
Majesty the Nizam, and is quite a large place. We 
had some beautiful drives in the Public Pleasure- 
Ground, and to Secunderabad. The road to Secunder- 
abad is quite a fashionable drive. The wide road, with 
its villas and gardens, was filled with elegant equi- 
pages and fine horses. Along the river the dhobies. 



ROUND THE WORLD IX SILENCE 73 



or washermen, were at work at large stone tanks. The 
ground near was covered with the clean garments 
spread out to dry ; and as much of their washing was 




BISHOPS FOSS, THOBURN AND OLDHAM 

composed of the long strips of red cloth the women 
use for chuddahs, it looked very gay in the sunshine. 

One day Bishop Oldham took Miss Gray and me out 
in one of the funny little two-wheeled carts they call 



74 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

tongas. We got out in the crowded bazaar, to see the 
graves of the Nizams in the quadrangle of the Mecca 
Mosque, which was built in 1614 A. D., and is said 
closely to resemble the Mosque at Mecca. A small 
crowd followed us around, and there was great excite- 
ment when I attempted to step within the enclosure, 
for to enter it was an act of sacrilege. But we could 
see very well from the top of the steps, and our native 
convoy so far favored us as to give us roses from the 
garlands on the tombs. I did not know, then, that it 
was not so many years ago that it was unsafe for a 
foreigner to be within the native city without a guard 
of soldiers ; and I was disappointed because I was not 
allowed to stroll about at will and investigate the 
contents of all the fascinating little booths. The 
Bishop pleaded lack of time, as we were going to the 
house of a Rajah or native prince of the Nizam's court. 
On driving into the court of the palace, we found it 
full of carriages and elephants. The stout elderly 
Rajah was standing at the head of the steps, receiving 
visitors. As refreshments, they brought us shallow 
red earthenware bowls filled with something that 
looked like whipped white of egg, and round cakes of 
thin pie crust, the size of a tea plate. The Rajah 
showed us how to break off pieces of the cake to use 
as spoons with which to eat the frothy meringue. 
Next came hot curry puffs, which we were to eat witli 
our fingers. Two of the Rajah's children, a girl and 
boy of four and seven, gorgeously arrayed, appeared 
just then with their attendants. He greeted them 
very affectionately, taking the little girl's face between 
his hands and patting it. I was nibbling at my cake 
when the Bishop came up to me, and said, " You can 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 



75 



eat that as we walk along. We are to see the palace ". 
So, having handed over the rest to one of the swarm 
of attendants, I made my adieux with half that cart 
wheel still in my hand, — I can imagine your horri- 
fied face as you read this ! — and, with Miss Gray 
and the Bishop, followed the guide to whom the Rajah 




INNER COURT IN HOUSE OF NATIVE PRINCE AT HYDERABAD 
The Prince stands on the steps in the centre, with two of his children 



committed us, through a series of low dark rooms and 
galleries furnished with shabby European furniture 
and photographs of native dignitaries in tarnished gilt 
frames. Our guide seemed to expect us to be over- 
awed by the splendor! We went completely around 
the court. I fell behind, while at the opposite end, 
and had the luck to get a good photograph of the open 



76 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 



gallery in which we had been received, with the Rajah, 
his children and suite standing there. 

We reached Bombay early this morning, after two 
nights and a day on the train. These long hours on 
the train are rather tedious. We four women are shut 
in one compartment together, and no railroad official 
is ever seen, except when we come to a stop at some 




THE APOLLO BUNDER. — BOMBAY 



station, when the door is unlocked and the ticket 
puncher appears. When we retire we must make up 
our own beds, as well as provide them ; and it is 
always cold here at night, often below forty degrees, 
though it is hot in the middle of the day. The sides 
of the car seem to be full of cracks, through which the 
wind blows all night long. I am always glad when 
davlisrht comes. 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 77 

Our train rolled into the station at Bombay at six 
o'clock in the morning, and it was an eerie drive 
through the deserted streets in the dim light of early 
day. Bombay is indeed a beautiful city, with its broad 
avenues and stately buildings. This hotel is one of the 
finest buildings in the place ; the floors are of mosaic, 
and there are electric lights and every modern com- 
fort. The house is directly on the harbor, and a 
stone's throw from the famous Apollo Bunder, the 
old landing-place. The three windows of our room 
look out on the bay, and I never tire of the changing 
scene there. The sunrise has been wonderful, — a 
picture I shall never forget. The Indian sun is some- 
what lazy ; and instead of beginning work at five, as 
our does, does not rise until seven o'clock. The purple 
hills, rising from the steel-gray water, with the flush- 
ing sky behind, make a gloriously colored picture ; and 
against this glowing background the white-sailed 
yachts and magnificent ocean steamers come and go, 
or lie at anchor. There is nothing mean or shabby to 
be seen in this part of the harbor, even the rowboats 
glitter in fresh white paint, and instead of dirty 
wharves, there is a handsome stone sea wall. 

They give us the best cofTee here that we have had 
since leaving Italy. As for fruit, the banana is not as 
good as ours. There are very small ones, half as large 
as ours, that are good ; but the large ones taste very 
rank to me. I have tried the mango and the custard 
apple, but what I like is the little Tangerine orange ; 
they have the best here that I ever ate, — juicy and 
of delicious flavor. 

I have been out shopping all by myself several times, 
and found it great fun. First, I made a list of the 



78 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

stores, with the help of the guide book ; then I had 
the clerk in the hotel office call a carriage and read the 
list to the driver for me, and on the return I had the 
same clerk settle with him for carriage hire. 

We went out to the Towers of Silence, the Parsee 
burial place, yesterday, having our chota hazari at 
half past six so that we could start at seven, — for, 
you know, all Indian sight-seeing is done in the early 
morning. The drive around Back Bay through the 
Queen's Road and Malabar Hill Road is most beauti- 
ful. One passes English, Mohammedan and Hindu 
Cemeteries, and the quaint " Marine Lines " and 
" Church Gate " Stations, one of which has an elabor- 
ately carved front. The road up Malabar Hill is lined 
on both sides with villas and gardens, and there are 
beautiful views of the harbor, its islands, and the 
mountains beyond. We passed scores of Hindus 
coming from the temple of the Walkeshuar, or " Sand 
Lord ", with their foreheads freshly colored. One of 
the most hideous things in India, to me, is seeing the 
throngs of people, men, women and children with the 
marks upon their foreheads. The red and white lines 
in the shape of a V, or red spots, denote that the per- 
son thus marked, is a worshipper of the god Vishnu, 
while horizontal white lines mark a follower of Siva. 
These and the nose jewels, — ornaments worn by all 
the women and little girls, — are, apart from their 
significance, utterly disfiguring. 

Beyond the villas with their gardens and around the 
curve of the bay lies the inclosure in which are the 
five Towers of Silence. On entering a gateway, one 
comes to a long flight of steps, at the base of which 
the carriages are left. At the head of the flight is a 



ROUND THE WORLD IX SILEXCE 



79 



gateway in an inner wall ; here we Avere met by an 
official who, after inspecting onr permit, without which 
no stranger is allowed inside the grounds, led us into 
a small garden full of flow r ering shrubs, where the 
mourners can sit and meditate. The towers are visible 
a little distance away among the trees. No one except 
the bearers of the dead is allowed to approach nearer 
than one hundred feet, and all that one can see is a 




TOWER OF SILENCE. — BOMBAY 



glimpse of white-washed walls, with a row of ominous- 
looking black birds perched on the top. Near by is a 
large oval-shaped building, which we were not al- 
lowed to enter. It is the Fire Temple, where the 
sacred fire, brought by Zoroaster, is still burning. In 
another building is a large model of one of the Towers. 
The five Towers are all alike, and are provided with 
gratings inside, on which the bodies are laid, quite 
nude. In a short time the vultures have completely 



80 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

devoured all the flesh, leaving only the skeleton, which 
is cast into the well in the centre of the tower to 
crumble to dust. Think of sitting in the garden near 
by to meditate on that ! 

There are many Parsees in Bombay. Their queer 
hats, resembling a piece of stove pipe, one sees every- 
where. Except for the hat, the Parsee dresses like an 
Englishman or an American. 

On the way back to the hotel, Ave visited the Jain 
Animal Hospital. We alighted in a large and very 
dirty court-yard, through which a gate leads into the 
hospital, — a fenced-in space where there were cages 
for the sick animals, potted plants, trees and shrubs, 
stables for cattle, and pens in which the cattle could 
take the air. The Jains are a sect that will not kill an 
animal of any kind. The contrast between the com- 
fortable quarters for the birds and animals in the hos- 
pital and the habitations of the human beings in the 
miserable court outside was great ! 

Driving through the swarming crowds in the 
bazaars, we stopped to look at the Monkey Temple. 
This building is almost covered with quaint carvings, 
We were not permitted to enter, only to stand at the 
door and look in. 

Another day we went to the Victoria Gardens, on 
the way passing through a street where the pavement 
between the trolley tracks was being relaid. Men and 
women were working at it together, the men filling 
baskets with earth, which they placed on the women's 
heads to be carried away. The Victoria Gardens are 
very prettily laid out and seemed very popular. AYe 
were up and off very early this morning for a trip to 
Elephanta Island, six miles out in the bay, to see the 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 81 

Caves. We were the only Europeans in the small 
steamer going over. As we neared the island we had 
to go down the ladder to the crowded third-class cabin, 
to be lowered into the sailboat which came out to take 
us ashore. The landing place was a low flight of wet 
and slippery steps. The island seemed to be unin- 
habited, but on the road we met four wild-looking 
men with a rough sort of a sedan chair which we put 
to use among us. The road was wild and picturesque, 
with a tiny village of thatched huts hidden among the 
trees about half way up. By and by we came to a 
wall. Just inside its gate is a bungalow with a rustic 
arbor, and a little farther on are the Caves. The main 
cave is a huge square room hewn from solid rock, its 
roof supported by large round columns. Extending 
entirely across the end wall are colossal Hindu 
sculptures, chief of which is the " Three-faced Bust, 
nineteen feet in height (to quote Murray) a repre- 
sentation of Siva, the front face is Siva in the char- 
acter of Brahma, the creator, the east face, Siva in 
the character of Rudna, the destroyer, and the west 
face, Siva as Vishnu the preserver." On each side of 
this middle compartment there are other mythological 
carvings. Then on each side of this large hall are two 
smaller ones. In the main hall is a large shrine. 
What time and labor must have been required to cut 
all this from the rock ! These caves are supposed to 
have been used as hermitages. We had tea, at Rs. 1 
(33 cts.) a cup, and some bread and butter, in the little 
arbor at the gateway ; and then had to hurry away for 
fear of missing the steamer back to Bombay. We are 
packing to leave, to-night, for Baroda. 



82 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 



IX 
Wellesley Girls' School, Naini, Tal. 

I HAVE been leading a strenuous life since I left 
Bombay ; sleeping on the train, doing sight-seeing 
all day, and then going back to another train at 
night. Several days were spent at Baroda, the capital 
of the Mahratta state, and though it has a population 
of over 100,000 there is no hotel there. They took us 
in at the Methodist Mission, and made us comfortable. 
The accommodations for the travelling public at these 
Indian cities and towns are not inviting. Most of them 
have what they call a Dak Bungalow, furnished Avith 
string beds, dressing tables and toilet apparatus, such 
as they are, but the traveller must carry his own bed- 
ding and towels and have his own servant to cook for 
him. In some of the railway stations there are sleep- 
ing rooms upstairs, and meals to be obtained in the 
station dining-room. The best things about these 
meals are the tea, bread, butter and jam, and the rice 
served with curry. Our cows would faint away if 
they could see the milk. Everything is served table 
d' bote, and if you yearn for eggs or toast, instead of 
the bill of fare, you are likely to have everything else 
in the establishment offered you before you can man- 
age to make your desires understood. Each of these 
station dining-rooms has a large cabinet filled with a 
supply of canned things, such as crackers, fruit and 
pound cakes, Cadbury's Chocolates, Heinz Baked 
Beans, and at many of the stations the waiters come 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILEXXE 83 

to the windows of the compartment with trays of hot 
tea. One can also buy bottled soda and fruit on the 
car, but Ave are warned to beware of the tea sold thus 
as one cannot be sure the water has been properly 
boiled and filtered. We are continually being warned 
not to touch water or milk that has not been boiled 
or filtered, and warned against getting in the sunshine, 
against any physical exertion, and in fact, are warned 
about so many things that it quite makes one nervous, 
though we are grateful for the kindly thought. We 
carry a bottle of boiled w r ater in our tea basket, and 
keep a supply of Malted Milk and Meat Extract, for 
use on the trains, and, as a variety, drink bottled soda, 
which is horrid tepid stuff. 

I am getting to understand the money at last. The 
banks cash our American Express Company's cheques 
with English gold in sovereigns. You can imagine 
how heavy twenty of these are. In Italy we could get 
paper money, and go to the bank often ; but in India I 
have twice already had my funds run almost to zero 
before I could get a chance to replenish, so I find it 
necessary to carry large sums. Then the native money 
is all in coin, and so heavy ; and a supply of small 
change is an absolute necessity. Going to the bank 
here is a serious business, as it takes so long. Yester- 
day it took Miss Gray and me exactly one hour to get 
two fifty-dollar cheques cashed. 

While at Baroda our hosts took us to see the 
Maharaja's elephants, one afternoon. There were half 
a dozen of these huge creatures with pink and white 
ears and faces. They were very obedient to their 
keepers, and, on the word being given, one of them 
would raise a forefoot in the air, on which the nimble 



84 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 



keeper leaped, to walk up on its back and down again. 
One of them had a large brass disk fastened to its 
head, and its keeper, seated on its back, had a, similar 
disk before him. A baton was placed in Sir Elephant's 
trunk, and the pair gave us some beautiful music. The 




SNAKE CHARMERS.— BARODA, INDIA 



howdahs and trappings were magnificent. They filled 
a house in the centre of the court, howdahs of gold, of 
silver, of velvet with solid gold and silver embroidery, 
trappings of velvet completely covered with rich em- 
broidery of gold and silver thread. There were lad- 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 85 

ders and goads of silver, and everything for use in 
elephant riding in the same rich metal. 

The Lakhshimi Villas Palace towers over the dusty 
city, from the midst of a beautiful cool green garden. 
This is not the palace where the Maharaja resides, but 
the place where his jewels are kept. They are dis- 
played in glass cases, and consist of a magnificent 
array of diamonds, several necklaces of five or seven 
rows of the kingly jewels, each row diminishing in size 
toward the back, those in front being as large as my 
thumb nail, bracelets, finger rings, aigrets, epaulets of 
diamonds and silver, long ropes of pearls and jewels 
of every kind in every shape. 

In another glass case against the wall there was a 
large piece of exquisite embroidery made entirely of 
tiny pearls, turquoises and rubies, — most wonderful, 
beautiful, and useless. 

In a guard house outside the garden gate of this 
palace the gold and silver cannon of the state are kept, 
each one weighing two hundred and eighty pounds of 
solid gold or silver, and drawn by milk-white bullocks 
that are kept in a stable near. 

Our friends next gratified our desire to see the 
Maharaja, the owner of all these riches, by giving a 
garden party, the invitation to which he accepted. On 
the eventful day the Mission grounds were beautifully 
decorated with scores of fluttering pennants. Huge 
garlands of green leaves were festooned from post to 
post all around the Compound. Over the gateway an 
arch was erected ; bunting and flags added a note of 
color. Native cavalry were stationed along the road 
as the Maharaja drove up in a splendid carriage with 
out-riders, accompanied by his eldest son, a bright- 



86 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

eyed vivacious young fellow, Prince Faltesing Rao, in 
complete European array except for his turban, which 
was a most wonderful edifice of palest lavender gauze. 
The Maharaja himself was in the native dress, wearing 
a surcoat of finest white linen with sleeves of crepe. 
He carried a curious little bouquet made of one whole 
flower, surrounded by rows and rows of sections of 
other flowers with a row of leaves on the outside. He 
twisted this around in one hand, and finally gave it to 
the pretty little daughter of one of the missionaries. 
This Maharaja is considered the most intelligent and 
progressive of the native Indian rulers. He made a 
tour of our country accompanied by his consort, the 
Maharanee, a couple of years ago. His heir was edu- 
cated at Oxford and Cambridge, and his other son is 
now at Harvard. 

When darkness fell, the pretty scene was made even 
more attractive by the multitude of twinkling little 
lamps that were strung from tree to tree, and by the 
added glow of the colored Chinese lanterns. 

At last I have had my wish to explore a native 
bazaar to my heart's content, in company with the 
housekeeper and one of the young lady helpers from 
the Mission School. We went from one little hole in 
the wall to another, until I had accumulated a full set 
of native jewelry, ear-rings, toe-rings, nose jewels, and 
glass bracelets. At another little box of a place, in the 
search for Decca Muslin, the storekeeper's assistant 
handed down to him as he sat cross-legged on the 
floor, bundle after bundle, tied up in white cloth, 
which, on being unwrapped, showed such treasures of 
sheer fabric, embroidered or glittering with gold, as 
would delight the heart of any girl. I was greatly 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 87 

interested in watching the women stamping cotton 
cloth. The whole length of one street they were at 
work on the floor of the piazzas — to call them by a 
pretentious name, — in front of their houses, with the 
cloth on a board before them, stamping it all over, 
yard by yard, with a stamp a few inches square. 
Everywhere there were festoons of leaves hanging in 
the doorways and across the front of the houses, as a 
charm against evil spirits. 

Tell the children that one of the ladies at Baroda 
brought a mosquito net with her, and as there were no 
supports for the net on her string bed, she draped it 
over her open umbrella, like a play house. 

From Baroda we went on to Ajmere, an important 
city in Rajputana, another all day and all night ride. 
Alighting from the train, in the lamp-lit station, in the 
early hours of Christmas morning, and again as I sat 
shivering in the gharry, watching the day break, dur- 
ing the drive to the Mission, my thoughts flew off to 
you clear ones far away, and I wondered what you 
were all doing. A beautiful welcome awaited us, kind 
hands drew us up to the grate fire and helped us off 
with our wraps. After breakfast we all went to 
church. A number of native pastors took part in the 
services, and it was interesting to watch their happy 
faces. Church over, we were taken to see the city. It 
is situated at the foot of a rocky and picturesque hill. 
There is an artificial lake with white marble pavilions 
along its bank, that were erected by the Emperor Shah 
Jehan ; pretty villas with gardens, a very handsome 
white stone building, the Mayo College for the educa- 
tion of young Rajput princes, surrounded by fine 



88 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

buildings used as dormitories, and a curious Jain 
temple. 

It did not seem one bit like Christmas, though they 
had the dinner table decorated with red paper and 
holly, and gave us a real English plum pudding. 

It was noon the next day when our train rolled into 
Jaipur station ; and we had had no breakfast. The 




COURT IN THE MAHARAJA'S PALACE. — JAIPUR 

place swarmed with merchants, laden with weapons 
and the inlaid brass that is so typical of the East. 
They lay in wait for us as we ate ; and beyond lay 
Jaipur calling loudly of her charms. It is the very 
quaintest, pinkest city in the world ! A crenellated 
wall of masonry surrounds its rows of bright rose-pink 
houses, with bold patterns of white stencil on their 
fronts. The crowded bazaars are picturesque, the 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 89 

public gardens are the finest in India, and a fine 
museum of oriental works of art and antiquities is 
housed in a handsome modern building in the midst 
of this garden. 

Jaipur is the residence of the Maharaja of Rajput. 
His palace is in the centre of the city, and is sur- 
rounded by a high wall. Inside this there are a series 
of courts. The gem of the palace is the marble " hall 
of private audience " ; its effect, however, is spoiled by 
the gaudily upholstered chairs with which it was 
filled. This palace has beautiful gardens, pleasure 
grounds, and a fern house that made a delicious green 
retreat from the dust and glare outside. 

We peeped into a so-called factory for brass work. 
It was just a tiny court-yard, with the workers sitting 
at tables under cover on the side ; and in one corner a 
little corkscrew stairway led upstairs to a room where 
the finished work was displayed for sale. I could have 
spent the day looking over the fascinating things there, 
but was called to start at once for the drive to Amber, 
the old capital, — Jaipur is the modern capital, — 
about five miles away. It would have been an enjoy- 
able drive if it had not been for the choking dust. 
After driving about for an hour, we came to the foot 
of a long hill, where we were to leave the carriage, to 
finish the trip on elephants. To get up to the howdah, 
we had to climb up a small ladder, which was then 
hooked on below, and our big elephant started off. 
His gait was not unpleasant, — just a gentle swing- 
ing movement, — and I enjoyed the ride immensely. 
The road was very steep. We climbed several hills, 
and then we turned into the courtyard of the palace. 
There we dismounted, ascended the grand stairway, 



90 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

and then was I in the palace of my dreams. There 
were halls, glorious with marbles and mosaics, open- 
ing on gardens in which fountains threw up their 
glittering spray ; rooms adorned with panels of ala- 
baster inlaid with flowers, the roofs glittering with 
mirrors inlaid among the carving" ; rooms all of white 
marble, with latticed balconies, and windows through 
which we could look down on the dreaming lake 
below, and away on the high hills that girt the valley 
around. The sun had set, and the shadowy corners 
were peopled with the ghosts of those who had lived 
and loved there, so long ago. 

The moon rose as we got into our carriage, the 
witchery of its light prolonging the spell that had 
fallen upon us in the old palace. Inside the city walls 
again, we stopped where torch-lights flared out under 
some trees, to turn over the curious things spread out 
on some stalls there. Then, going on to the station, 
we had dinner, hunted up our car, — which was on a 
siding, — and went to bed. The train came and car- 
ried us away, long after we had entered the land of 
dreams. Next morning, when the stop for breakfast 
came, for the first time we happened on a dining-room 
where no one knew any English ; so we had to take 
whatever we could get, which turned out to be bread 
and butter only. With this we had to be content until 
we reached Delhi at two o'clock. 

I had been looking forward more to Delhi than to 
anything else in India except the Taj Mahal ; but the 
palace was a disappointment, so much of it had been 
removed since the mutiny that it was not easy to 
imagine it as it had been then. The beautiful Dewan 
Khass, famed as one of the most graceful buildings in 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 91 

the world, had its marble columns white-washed and 
was turned into a hospital. It has now been some- 
what restored. The precious stones with which its 
walls, arches, and pillars were completely inlaid have 
been replaced by colored glass. It is over one of the 
arches in this hall that the Persian inscription appears 
that is translated, 

" If there be a paradise on the face of the earth, 
This is it, this is it, this is it." 

The peacock throne was in this hall. This throne 
has two peacocks with tails expanded, and a mass of 
diamonds, sapphires, rubies, pearls and emeralds re- 
present the natural coloring. On either side, between 
these peacocks, was a life-sized parrot, said to have 
been cut from a single emerald. Think of this 
wondrous hall as it was, the soft sheen of the marble 
and glitter of gems on its walls, the peacock throne 
restored, with the Great Mogul upon its golden seat, 
his crown with its twelve diamonds surmounted by 
the Koh-i-noor, his jewelled person and dazzling crowd 
of courtiers ! Another reminder of the ancient splen- 
dor are the Royal Baths, three large rooms floored 
with white marble, with channels through which the 
water ran. Each room has beautifully inlaid walls and 
a fountain in the centre. 

In an outside court stands the beautiful little " Pearl 
Mosque ", built entirely of white and grey marble. 
There was absolutely nothing in the little pearl-white 
room but a flight of steps leading to a low platform 
running across one end of the room. Each slab in the 
marble floor is just the right length for one to kneel 
upon and bow the forehead to the floor, as is the Mo- 



92 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

hammedan fashion for prayer. We were shown the 
Maharaja's own praying slab. 

Leaving behind the Palace and the fort, the strong- 
hold of the Mogul Emperors, with its red sandstone 
walls, we turned our faces toward the great Jama 
Mas j id, supposed to be the largest mosque in the 
world, built of red sandstone inlaid with white marble, 
and approached by a grand flight of steps with a great 
gateway on each of three sides. In the inside is a huge 
quadrangle with a fountain in the centre ; an open 
cloister surrounds three sides, and the Mosque itself 
is on the fourth, entered by a short flight of steps, at 
the foot of which attendants wait to cover the feet of 
" unbelievers " before allowing them to enter. 

In one corner of the court is a shrine, in which are 
kept relics of the Prophet Mohammed. They are an 
impression in marble of his foot, and a glass case con- 
taining one red hair from his beard ! 

By this time the sun was setting ; and though I 
longed to see the Koodsia Gardens, the Flag-staff 
Tower, and other places in Delhi interesting as con- 
nected with the Mutiny, the rest of the party were sure 
we should return to the station, consoling me with the 
prospect of a return to Delhi later. Indian cities are 
really no place in which to be abroad after dark. 
After dinner we amused ourselves as well as we could 
in the dingy waiting-room until our good Mr. Lee 
brought us the welcome news that our car was open. 
The lights had not been connected, so he went out to 
the bazaar and bought some candles, thus enabling us 
to unpack our bedding and make ourselves comfort- 
able. Don't you think we are getting quite seasoned 
to making the best of everything? 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 93 

It was noon the next day when we reached Bareilly, 
where we had very comfortable quarters at the 
Methodist Orphanage, and settled down for a rest. 
Our hostess was kindness itself. I am sure there never 
was tea and toast that tasted better than that she sent 
up for our chota hazari each morning. The bank 
where our mail had been collecting for two months 




THE METHODIST ORPHANAGE AT BAREILLY 

was closed for the holidays, but in some way or other 
she managed to get our letters for us at once. The 
house was the most home-like place we had seen since 
leaving America, the parlor coziness itself with its 
blazing wood fire, its easy chairs with their pretty 
cushions, its table with books and papers, and its vase 
of beautiful roses, fresh each morning. In our big 
upper room, which opened on a piazza encircling three 



94 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 



sides of the house, the doors — there were doors in- 
stead of windows — stood open all day long, and the 
squirrels, cunning little things, ran in and out. 

The Methodist Episcopal Mission at Bareilly is 
quite a little village, owning over sixty acres of 
ground, and having, beside the orphanage, a church, a 
hospital, and a theological school. The homes of the 




THE ORPHANAGE GIRLS AT BAREILLY 

missionaries are pretty bungalows with beautiful gar- 
dens. It is some distance from the camp of the Eng- 
lish soldiers and homes of their officers, the English 
church and hospital. The native city lies in the other 
direction. Bareilly has not much to offer in the way 
of sight-seeing. Miss Gray and I had some excitement 
riding in an ekka. I must send you a picture of one. 
We had to double up on those little side shelves and 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 95 

hold on for all we were worth. Oh, a camel is a 




feather-bed in comparison with an ekka. We were 



96 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

having the native tailor at the bazaar make us some 
waists, and as the ekkas seemed to be the only sort of 
public conveyance to be had in the city, we had to 
patronize them several times, emerging from the fray 
with every bone dislocated, but with two very pretty 
waists as a reward. The avenues of bamboo trees 
were especially beautiful, and families of monkeys sat 
on the edge of the road, staring solemnly at us as we 
bumped past them, and seeming to say to each other, 
" Did you ever see anything like those queer Ameri- 
cans ? " 

Each day we would emerge from the house to find 
the piazza and lawn peopled with native merchants 
with wonderful rugs, shawls, brass work and em- 
broidery. 

I am finishing this letter up above the clouds. We 
are now at Naini Tal, a beautiful spot on the slope of 
the Himalayas. We came up from Bareilly yesterday. 
A ride of more than four hours brought us to Kath- 
godam, the end of the railway line, where there is a 
pretty little station covered with purple bougainvillea ; 
these Indian country stations are often very pictur- 
esque. All our baggage except hand bags and bedding 
was left in the car ready for the return ; and after 
having breakfast in the station, we were put into ton- 
gas, — two-wheeled carts seating four persons, — our 
bedding was lashed on the sides, and the rest of the im- 
pedimenta were tucked in around us. Then the caval- 
cade started. The sturdy hill ponies were fresh, and 
kept up a gallop all the way ; the road was fine, with 
a gradual ascent. When an Englishman makes a road 
it is a good one. Monkeys chattered at us from the 
trees, big grey comical-looking fellows, with a bush 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 



97 




98 AROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

of white hair around their faces, just like a ruffled 
night cap. Glorious views unfolded at every turn. 
The distant mountains were not so green and thickly 
wooded as I had expected ; but then, it was January. 
They also lacked the lovely coloring of our California 
mountains ; but they rise, peak after peak, in great 
majesty, and, coming up from the dusty plains, they 
are especially attractive. 




A DANDY 

Our tonga led the way, and we stopped five times 
to change horses. There were twenty-five in our 
party, so Ave made a long procession. At last a halt 
came, and a transfer to the dandies that were to take 
us the remaining three miles. These dandies look 
something like a little boat, hold one person, and ours 
w r ere carried by four coolies, two in front and two be- 
hind, with the poles of the dandy resting on their 
shoulders. The rest of the way was up a path so steep 



ROUXD THE WORLD IN SILENCE 99 

as to be almost perpendicular in places, and with sharp 
turns. I held my breath, at first, as I watched the 
men feeling for a footing. It was mid-afternoon by 
this time and very cold. The thick golf cape I wore 
on top of my coat, with a steamer rug tucked in over 
all, Avas none too warm. I was so sorry for the poor 
coolies, who were carrying us so carefully and 
patiently, for they were barefoot and half clad in the 
biting air. Finally a sharp turn in the path brought us 
out close to a beautiful lake, surrounded by hills, all 
dotted over with houses. This house, the Wellesley 
Girls' School, is half way up the hill, and beautifully 
situated on a small plateau. The girls are all away on 
a vacation and the Vice-principal came up yesterday to 
open the house and is entertaining us royally. My 
room is at the end of a long outer gallery, and has a 
bay window looking down on the garden and the lake, 
with a glorious view of the distant gap in the hills 
through which we had come on our way up. It began 
to rain while we were at dinner, with thunder, 
lightning, and a heavy down-pour all night, making us 
thankful for our snug quarters. It was the first rain 
we had had since we left Madras, and this morning 
we woke to find a thick fog. It has rained, hailed, and 
snowed in turn all day, but the blazing grate fires 
make it cheerful. There are plenty of books and late 
magazines, and Avhat with visiting together in the 
pleasant home-like rooms, and exploring the big house 
with its sun parlor, dormitories, courts and odd little 
rooms tucked on outside and gained by an outside 
stair, we have spent a delightful day. 



100 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 



S. S. Bangala. 

IT seems a long time since that evening at Naini 
Tal when I wrote sitting cosily at a lamp-lit table 
beside a glowing grate fire. Now I am in the cabin 
of a steamer on the Hooghly River en route from 
Calcutta to Rangoon, and am thankful that there is no 
fire near. 

We had a glorious ride down the mountain from 
Naini Tal. The morning was perfect ; the air crystal 
clear after the storm of the day before ; a light fall of 
snow covered the garden. I had been up and around 
early, all excitement, taking pictures and enjoying the 
fresh air and lovely views. About ten o'clock our long 
procession of dandies moved off, amidst fluttering 
handkerchiefs and grateful last words. The sunshine 
on the melting snow made everything sparkle. Fleecy 
cloudlets sailed through the blue sky that overhung a 
glad, beautiful world. Our dandy-bearers crept down- 
ward over the slippery paths with greatest caution, 
stopping once or twice to rest and exchange gay words 
with the sturdy hill women with nose rings as large as 
bracelets, who were taking down our bales of bedding. 
The tongas were waiting where we had left them ; our 
bedding was again lashed on the sides and soon we 
were speeding along. The downward ride was even 
more enjoyable than the ascent. It was two o'clock 
when we reached Kathgodam, and there was just time 
enough to eat our luncheon comfortably before the 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 101 

train started for Lucknow. There was no railway 
restaurant on the way, so our evening meal had to 
come out of the tea basket and the ever-useful cracker 
box. The night was bitterly cold, with a searching- 
wind that came in through every crack, and I was glad 
when morning came. Our train was four hours late 
in reaching Lucknow, where our kind friends had been 
waiting all that time. They took us to the Isabel 
Thoburn College, where a warm welcome, pleasant 
rooms, and a good breakfast awaited us. 

Of course the first thing we wished to see was the 
Residency, that monument of England's endurance and 
bravery. It stands inside extensive park-like grounds. 
The houses that were near at the time have been taken 
down. We drove through an open gateway in a low 
wall and up to the ruins of the Bailey Guard Gateway, 
where we left the carriage and walked on to the Resi- 
dency, the ruins of which rise from grassy slopes and 
are clothed with brilliantly flowering vines. It is 
almost a complete ruin, but, surrounded with lovely 
gardens and kept with tenderest care, it is very beau- 
tiful. Every step was full of sad interest. At a little 
distance from the Residency is the Begam Kothi. 
which was almost in the centre of the defenses and has 
lofty underground rooms with many little rooms or 
recesses in their walls. It was here, in these under- 
ground rooms, that the two hundred and fifty women 
and five hundred children were kept. They were so 
crowded that, as one of them afterwards wrote, when 
they lay down, lying on the floor, they fitted into each 
other like bits in a puzzle. They ate the coarsest food, 
and were clad in whatever they happened to be wear- 
ing when the call to retreat came. One can imagine a 



102 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

little of the heat and misery of those long summer 
days. Picture the weary little ones, the brave and 
patient mothers torn with fear for the husband and 
father fighting overhead and for the helpless little ones 
with them ; imagine the torture of hearing incessant 
noise of firing all around. There is a model in one of 
the rooms which shows the buildings and their sur- 
roundings at the time. When one studies it and real- 
izes how closely the enemy invested the place, it 
seems marvellous that any one escaped. The room in 
which Sir Henry Lawrence died is a ruin. His grave 
is in a cemetery near by, surrounded by those of two 
thousand others killed at the time. 

Lucknow was the capital of the Kings of Oudh, and 
is full of the palaces the different kings built for them- 
selves. The last king had a thousand wives, each lady 
having her own apartments and attendants ; conse- 
quently his zenana palace was the largest of all. There 
is a collection of portraits of these kings in the Taluk- 
dars Hall. They are all fat, ugly, and covered with 
jewels. There was one portrait so remarkably ugly 
that we gathered around it to look well at the ugliest 
man we had ever seen. A few moments later I looked 
back and observed that the attendants had drawn the 
curtains that hung from the frame. It was the only 
one with curtains ; and when I asked about it I was 
told it was a portrait of Wajid Ali Shah, the last King 
of Oudh, and his portrait was kept covered by order 
of the English Government. 

The veranda adjoining this Hall looks down on a 
picturesque reservoir, and on a fine clock tower at a 
little distance. Near by is an unfinished tower, com- 
menced by Mohammed Ali Shah. He planned that 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 103 

this should be the highest tower in the world, but died 
when he had built only four stories. The Machli 
Bharran or Palace of Light was built by this same 
Mohammed as a burial place. It stands in a large 
quadrangle, through the centre of which runs a long 
and wide marble reservoir full of water, surrounded 
by lamps and crossed by an arched iron bridge. The 
effect of the lighted lamps on the water was most 
beautiful. The Inambarah Hall is filled with mirrors 
and chandeliers. The graves of the king and his 
queen, in the pavement, are surrounded by a fence of 
beaten silver, with a canopy of the same. At one end 
of the hall stands the king's throne, which is simply a 
flight of eight steps covered with beaten silver, the 
top step being the king's seat. It looked anything but 
comfortable. 

In another part of the hall is a curious edifice, seven 
feet high, in a platform about five feet square. It is a 
miniature temple, made of isinglass and wax. The 
Mohammedans carry these, every year, in the Festival 
of Light, and afterwards the wax temple is buried 
underground. Each year a new one is made. 

Before the great Inambarah is a vast courtyard 
with arcades all around the wall, where the Moham- 
medans live when they come here for a Mela or Fair. 
What an interesting sight it must be when it is filled 
with people ! On the west side of the courtyard is a 
lofty mosque with two minarets, and on the south 
side is the vast structure of the Inambarah. It was 
getting dark, so we spent only a few minutes in the 
great hall, which has one of the highest vaulted gal- 
leries in the world. 

On the east side of the quadrangle is a huge round 



104 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

tower with arched galleries on each floor around the 
well that fills the middle of the tower. Standing there 
in the dusk, looking down on the black water, it 
seemed as if we could really see the unhappy ladies 
who, when their Mohammedan husbands had become 
tired of them, were thrust into this well. The three 
of us were alone, and the dim galleries around us were 
very eerie. 

The call to prayer was sounding from the mosque 
opposite just as we emerged from the tower, and my 
companions, hearing it for the first time, stopped to 
listen. 

Our friends took us to Victoria Park for a picnic 
under the trees, close to the house once occupied by 
the first missionary to Lucknow. They were exceed- 
ingly kind to us at the College. The principle, vice- 
principal, and the four bright attractive young lady 
teachers, were ever ready to entertain us, answer any 
questions, or do anything possible to make our stay 
delightful. The college girls themselves were like 
college girls the world over, — the most attractive 
of girlhood. 

Cawnpore is only thirty-five miles from Lucknow. 
and we started for that place early one morning, but 
it was nearly noon when our train rolled into the sta- 
tion. Leaving our heap of hand baggage in the care 
of a native woman in the waiting-room, the six of us, 
in two carriages, went out, surrounded by a cloud of 
dust, to see all we could of the city, — a most unat- 
tractive place. There were more idols there than we 
had seen anywhere. Nearly every house had its little 
outside shrine, with a hideous red idol and bunch of 
flowers. From hot and dusty streets, our carriages 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 105 

turned into the green enclosure of the Memorial Gar- 
dens. They are not large, but are well kept and very 
beautiful. Each carriage is required to proceed at a 
walking pace, in accordance with the solemnity of the 
place. In the centre of the gardens, on a mound sur- 
rounded by a screen whose gateway is continually 
watched by an English soldier, a beautiful marble 
angel has been placed over the well where the bodies 
of the women and children were thrown on the day of 
the massacre. The little house where the massacre 
took place has been destroyed, and, as far as possible, 
all painful evidences have been removed. All is peace 
and beauty now. 

The Memorial Church is some distance away, built 
on part of the ground that was within the hastily 
thrown-up entrenchments. As one follows the line of 
defence, and realizes that only a wall four feet high, 
a few cannon, and a handful of brave men, kept back 
an army of nearly ten thousand men, it seems abso- 
lutely incredible that they were able to hold it for three 
weeks. It makes one thrill with pride in one's English 
cousins, and boil with rage at the perfidy of the Nana 
Sahib. 

The church is full of memorials. Within the choir 
the walls are covered with slabs on which are the 
names of a thousand men, women and children who 
perished here. We turned away sick at heart. 

I should have liked to drive down to the river, but 
we had a good deal of difficulty in making our car- 
riage drivers understand what we wanted. So we de- 
cided we had better go back to the station after our 
baggage, and get it and ourselves over to the station 
on the other side of the citv, from which we were to 



106 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

leave that night before the short day closed and dark- 
ness fell. Outside of these stations, the one by which 
we entered Cawnpore and the one by which we left, a 
crowd of pilgrims sat on the ground, patiently waiting 
for a chance to go on to Allahabad to the great Mela. 
Our train did not leave until after nine o'clock at night, 
but we were allowed to go into our car an hour earlier. 
It was a large car, with eight berths for the seven of 
us. I was so cold and uncomfortable on my hard, nar- 
row shelf that I could not sleep. Every time the train 
came to a stop I could see, through the small open 
window in the door, the rush of pilgrims seeking to get 
on the train. The Mela at Allahabad is estimated to 
have brought out from six hundred to eight hundred 
thousand people. It was dark, of course, and there 
were no lights in our car, but the station lamps enabled 
me to see everything outside. Finally the train made 
another long stop, and fresh crowds flocked past our 
door. The poor creatures, — in their fluttering rags, 
and bare feet and limbs in the chill night air ! They 
go hand in hand, so as not to get separated in the 
crush. Many heads were thrust in at our window, and 
at first I thought nothing of it, knowing they were 
looking for a third-class car. But presently a pair of 
bare limbs came through the window, and their owner 
followed. Some one outside pulled him out again. 
Soon there came another rush outside, and another 
man waxed bold and, putting his statf and bundle in 
through the window, began to follow. I was the only 
one awake in the car, and I called out " Go away ! 
Go away ! " As he paid no notice, and no one else 
seemed to hear, I reached out and shook the nearest 
sleeper, who added to the confusion by thinking it 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 107 

was the man himself who had shaken her. He was 
now being assisted out of the window by the guard. 
After this we closed the window. 

In the morning I found on the floor a pair of brace- 
lets which our midnight visitor had evidently dropped 
in his flight. It was such a pathetic little souvenir, — 
the beads were made of mud from the bank of the 
sacred river, and strung on straws. Later, when I 
opened my carryall, I discovered that some of my 
warm wraps had disappeared. Evidently the woman 
at the Cawnpore waiting room had been investigating. 

Muttra is such an ugly place, — no grass, no flow- 
ers, anywhere ; nothing but sun-baked yellow earth, 
and yellow stucco houses where shrines with red- 
daubed idols made a startling note of color. The river 
bank is lined with temples which look most pictur- 
esque, but " distance lends enchantment to the view " 
here. The city abounds in monkeys ! You see them 
running up and down the walls of the houses every- 
where, or sitting along the edge of the roof, their 
babies clasped in their arms ! 

We went down to the river one evening to see the 
services in the Fire Worshippers' Temple. The sun 
had set just as we reached the river, and the sky and 
water were a beautiful rose color. A large flat- 
bottomed boat was waiting, and rugs had been spread 
out to sit upon. As we floated down the Jumna, the 
twilight lent a mysterious charm to the temples, with 
their quaint domes, and gables which hung out over 
the river. 

When we reached the Fire Worshippers' Temple, 
the boat was anchored where we could watch the rites. 
This temple is in the form of a hollow square. In the 



108 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

centre is an altar with an arched canopy, and from the 
altar a flight of steps descends to the water. Temple 
and steps were full of people moving around, the four 
sacred bulls mingling with them ; and everywhere, on 
steps, walls and leaping from roof to roof, were swarms 
of monkeys, some of them imitating the actions of the 
worshippers, kneeling at the river's brink to lap up the 
water to drink, and touching it to their foreheads over 
and over again. Many of the women had brought 
little rafts of straws, which held four or five tiny 
earthen vessels filled with oil, with a minute wick in 
each vessel. These were lighted, and the little rafts 
were carefully pushed out into the stream, some to 
carry messages to the spirits of the dead, some as an 
offering to the goddess of the river. The gentlemen 
with us picked up several of them, and one was given 
to me. As twilight deepened into darkness, the exer- 
cises began. Two men held up before the altar a red 
cloth, through which we could see little twinkling 
lights flashing out ; then the cloth was taken away, 
and disclosed a priest standing upon the altar, holding 
up a candelabrum with a pyramid of lights. He held 
it high aloft, swinging it back and forth. The people 
in the boats around us were looking up, with hands 
clasped in adoration ; and those in the temple were 
throwing a rain of flowers at the lights, and rushing 
to gather them up as they fell, for touching the sacred 
fire made them also sacred. After a while the priest 
stepped down and placed the candelabrum on the altar. 
Instantly all the worshippers rushed forward, stretch- 
ing hands and arms into the flame, saluting the lights 
over and over again, in a perfect frenzy, in the effort 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 109 

to absorb holiness from them ; while over head the 
pure light of the moon shone coldly down. 

Another day we took a trip to Brindaban, a place six 
miles away, where there are some famous Hindu 
temples. The ten of us started at dawn. There was 
nothing in any way attractive about the drive, and I 
was getting tired, when we came to a forlorn village 
of dirty houses. The temples were also disappointing. 
The first one visited was modern, with a very pretty 
garden and white marble pavilions, but we were not 
allowed to go further than the garden. The next one 
has a golden palm tree in a shrine within a court. It 
was visible through the open door ; but as we were 
starting to ascend the steps the natives lounging 
around became galvanized into life, and, barring our 
way, held up a large placaid on which we read that 
there was " no admission to visitors of another faith, 
and they were begged not to insist on entering, as that 
would entail the necessity of providing new furniture 
for the kitchen ! " What a serious affair that would 
be ! We hesitated ; and the scowls around us became 
fiercer, so we decided to retreat. The third temple had 
a most fascinatingly carved roof, with wooden stalac- 
tites, resembling the roof of a cave. The attendant 
allowed us to take a peep into the inner room, which 
really looked like a kitchen. On getting into the car- 
riages again, we were taken to the gate of a small com- 
pound, so neat as to be in greatest contrast to the 
surrounding dirt and disorder. This was the Mission ; 
and there we were invited to partake of a dainty 
breakfast. The neat compound and cool dainty order 
of the house greatly impressed me with what could be 



110 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

done by even one missionary, when her home made 
such an attractive spot in a forlorn dreary village. 

Our last afternoon at Muttra was made most de- 
lightful by an invitation to a garden party at the home 
of some charming people we had met in Bareilly. As 
our carriage turned in at their gate it seemed as 
though we had entered Fairyland for it did not seem 
possible there could be any spot so cool, green, and 
beautiful in Muttra's yellow desolation. Huge trees 
shaded the wide, green lawns, hedges bordered the 
drive, and there were roses everywhere. At the hos- 
pitably open doors of the big bungalow, one of the 
daughters, — there were twelve of them, and one son. 
— appeared, to lead the way to another beautiful 
green lawn, where the pretty dresses of the ladies and 
children around the tea-table made a moving mass of 
color. Croquet and all kinds of games were going on 
merrily all around. Unfortunately we had to leave 
very early, as we were going on to Agra. Sunset 
glory filled the sky as our train moved out. The moon 
rose, and peeped in through the windows at us ; hour 
after hour passed and we were apparently as far from 
Agra as ever. It was after midnight when we covered 
the last of the thirty-three miles between Muttra and 
Agra. 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 111 



XI 

S. S. Bangala. 

OH, to waken and realize that I was actually in 
Agra, the city of many a dream. It was not 
yet daylight when we started on our six mile 
drive to Akbar s tomb. The air was bitterly cold, and 
we were bundled in all our extra wraps and huddled 
together in the gharry, eating crackers as we drove 
along. How you would laugh to see the twine bag I 
carry, in which I have my kodak, guide book, and a 
tin box of crackers. There is no style about Indian 
travel. 

The road was the one on which Akbar himself used 
to drive, and is shaded by grand old trees. The tomb 
is in the midst of a garden enclosure, two miles square : 
— it seems that what they call a " garden " in India 
means only grass and trees, not a place for flowers as 
with us. As a gateway, the " garden " has a hand- 
some building of red sandstone inlaid with white mar- 
ble, with a white marble minaret at each corner. 
Within the gateway, a broad paved walk leads up to 
the mausoleum, which is built of red sandstone with 
an entire top story of white marble, the effect being- 
somewhat odd. There are four stories in all, the lower 
floor having arches north and south, as entrances to 
the tomb chamber. The vestibule has been partially 
restored, and its dark blue and gold is exceedingly rich 
in appearance. From this, an incline leads down to the 
dark chamber where the great Akbar rests. On either 



112 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

side of the vestibule, small rooms are screened off, and 
contain tombs of Akbar's family, his children, grand- 
children, and a sister. These white marble tombs are 
covered with most beautiful carving. Steep narrow 
stairways, against the walls outside, lead to the white 
marble glory up above. A cloister with lattice work 
of forty-four arches, no two alike, surrounds this floor. 
They told me that the gentle wind sighs an exquisite 
refrain through those marble arches. In the centre, 
just above where Akbar sleeps in his vaulted tomb, 
is a marble cenotaph, completely covered with most 
beautiful carving. I remember noting at one end a 
wonderful spray of iris with leaves and flower, cher- 
ries with leaves and stem, and a branch from a rose 
bush. At the foot of the cenotaph is a pillar, about 
four feet high, which was once covered with gold on 
the top, in the middle of which the Koh-i-noor 
sparkled. Akbar had three wives, — Mohammedan, 
Hindu, and Christian. A building close to the tomb 
was pointed out as the burial place of his Christian 
wife. 

As we sat around the breakfast table on our return, 
with all the doors open, — for there were no Avin- 
dows, — little birds flew in and out. perched on the 
cornice, and had to be chased away from the serving 
table. Beautiful emerald-green parrots made streaks 
of vivid color as they flashed around, out in the gar- 
den. On the verandah, the native merchants had 
taken possession, and the floor was covered from end 
to end with beautiful things, — rugs, embroideries, 
brass work, silver, jewelry, postal cards, photographs, 
inlaid marble, soapstone carving, hand-painted ivories. 
The merchants were coming and going all the time, so 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 



113 



we had a continual variety. It was great fun to bar- 
gain with the men. We had a standing joke on some 
of the party who bought no less than six models of 
the Taj, besides several pieces of carved soapstone, 
and a most wonderful black marble chess-board. They 
left Agra so loaded down with wooden boxes that we 
call the collection their " marble yard ". 

















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ZENANA IN THE FORT AT AGRA 



The Fort is in the heart of the city, on the bank of 
the river Jumna. Its red sandstone walls protect the 
Palace and the Pearl Mosque, and are of themselves 
a splendid sight, they are so majestic, and so fulfill 
one's idea of a fort. The Pearl Mosque was built by 
Shah Jehau, grandson of Akbar. It is all red sand- 
stone without, and white marble within, and, as one 
comes in from the glare of the red walls to the cool 



114 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

grey and white, the contrast gives one an unusual 
impression of serenity and peace. A cloister runs 
around three sides, and the Mosque has three aisles 
surmounted by three domes. An inscription of black 




A ZENANA WOMAN 

marble says that the Mosque may be likened to a 
precious pearl, as no other mosque is lined throughout 
with such marble as this. 

The Palace is another dream of white marble loveli- 
ness ; but it gives only a faint idea of what it must 
have been. The precious stones have all been re- 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 



115 







W, 













THE JESSAMINE TOWER 

placed with glass, except one emerald. The private 
mosque of the ladies of the court, the " Gem Mosque ", 



116 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

they call it, is near the room where Shah Jehan was 
kept a prisoner, fed on coarse grain, for seven years. 
Below is a small courtyard, where merchants came 
to show their goods to the ladies. In the " Fish 
Square '" there was a large tank where the emperors 
could amuse themselves fishing. In the two-storied 
cloister that surrounds this, an open terrace fronts 
the Jumna. On this terrace is a black marble throne 
with a long fissure in it, which cracked, they told us, 
when a usurper sat on the throne. On the other side 
of the cloister the pavement represents a Parchesi 
board, where the Emperor used living men with which 
to play. Below is an enclosure within the walls, where 
contests between elephants and tigers used to take 
place. The Hall of Private Audience is a glory of 
marble carving and precious stones ; a stairway leads 
from this to the beautiful Jessamine Tower, where the 
Emperor lived, in exquisite rooms over the river. 

His private mosque is said to be the smallest in ex- 
istence. Near by is the " Mirror Palace ", two dark 
rooms, with walls and ceiling inlaid with mirrors. 
They were lighted up for us, with most beautiful 
effect. There are troughs in their marble floors, 
through which rose water ran. 

On one side of the Grape Gardens are the Golden 
Pavilions, so called from the roof being covered with 
glittering plates of copper. These tiny round rooms 
were used by Shah Jehan's daughter, and there are 
holes in the walls, in which she kept her jewels; these 
openings are so small that only a woman's arm can 
reach the contents. In another corner of the Grape 
Gardens are three rooms, which were the private apart- 
ments of Shah Jehan ; and there, in the most beautiful 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 11 




of all, he died, looking out across the fields and the 
river to the Taj which rises majestically round a curve 
in the river. 



118 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 




There are more grand halls, and another palace all 
built of red sandstone, within the fort, with vaulted 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 119 

rooms underneath to be used as a retreat from the 
summer heat. Outside, close to the Delhi gate, is the 
great Mosque built by Shah Jehan ; but all these won- 
ders pale to insignificance before the Taj, where Shah 
Jehan buried his most loved wife. It is certainly 
worth the journey to India, simply to see this glori- 
ously beautiful building. I have left it to the last, for 
it is so far beyond all the other beautiful things in 
Agra. One drives through park-like grounds to the 
grand gateway leading to the gardens in which the 
Taj stands. 

This gateway is a fine building of red sandstone, 
inlaid with extracts from the Koran, and with orna- 
ments of white marble ; the whole surmounted by 
white marble cupolas. But who can stop to examine 
the gateway, when the wonder of wonders itself is 
before us? Arched in the red sandstone doorway, it 
rises like a picture in a frame, a piece of jewelled 
marble, carved, burnished, fit only to be shrined in a 
jewel casket. It is so glaring white in the sunshine 
that it seems somewhat garish ; but later, when the 
sun has set and the light fades, it becomes ethereal- 
ized, — a dream, a vision of carved cream-colored 
ivory. 

There is an approach of water in a marble water 
course, where the building is reflected ; stone walks, 
and a pattern of stone blocks on the grass, form part 
of the approach. Half way down there is a platform, 
with seats and a square marble tank, where water 
again mirrors the lovely building, which stands on a 
high marble platform. One enters the doors, around 
which are panels of wonderful white marble carving, 
— here an iris with leaves and flowers as large as life, 



120 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

perfect in every detail, there a spray of roses, and in 
front is the screen which surrounds the tombs, — for 
Shah Jehan too is buried here. This screen is neither 
more or less than a piece of jewelled "lace-work", — 
a marble lattice, as thick as my ringer, set with real 
precious stones. The tombs are in a vault below, level 
with the surface of the ground. The tombs are 
covered with flowers and leaves in jewelled inlay, I 
counted thirty-two garnets in one poppy. Overhead 
rises the exquisite dome, and around are a series of 
other rooms. 

Outside, there is a superb view across the river, to 
the Fort and its palaces. We wandered around for 
hours, watching the sun set and the moon rise. The 
beautiful building became even more fairy-like in the 
moonlight. It seemed to grow larger and larger, and 
to draw nearer and nearer, with its glorious central 
dome rising, light as a bubble. One felt it must break 
loose from its fastenings and float away. When, at 
last, we turned away, I looked backward every few 
steps, and each time it seemed to have grown more 
ethereal. I shall never forget my last look backward ; 
the dome was surely floating toward me in the moon- 
light, and I had but to reach out and take it, to bear 
away and be my own. 

I have a long list of the number of precious stones 
given by Kings and Nawabs for use in the Taj when 
it was being built. Among them are six hundred and 
seventy turquoises, seventy-four sapphires, forty-two 
emeralds, six hundred and twenty-five diamonds, and 
one hundred thousand pieces of mother-of-pearl. 

We had the most uncomfortable night of our whole 
stay in India on the way from Agra to Allahabad. To 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 121 

begin with, we had to leave Agra a little before mid- 
night, and to change cars half an hour later. All went 
merrily enough until we left the train to change cars. 
We were in a huge station, with a few lamps making 
dim spots of light in the darkness, a long platform to 
traverse, and a bridge to be crossed ; and as there were 
hardly enough of the native porters around to carry 
half our mountain of hand baggage, we all picked up 
as much as we could carry, and started for the train. 
There had been no compartments engaged for us, and 
the two gentlemen of our party and the Eurasian guard 
hustled up and down in vain search. It seemed for a 
while, as if we would be unable to go on that train. 
At last a large second-class compartment was found, 
and we were so glad not to have to stay behind or have 
strangers with us, that we were quite cheerful at the 
prospect of sitting up all night. Our suit-cases Avere 
set out in a row, and on top of these the carryalls 
were laid, making quite a comfortable-looking couch 
on which we took turns to rest. Our wooden boxes 
of Agra marble and tin cans of plaster figures were 
piled up in one corner, more carryalls were utilized 
as pillows, and soon all were asleep. In the morning 
we had some poor tea at a station, patronized our 
cracker boxes, and " existed " until we reached Alla- 
habad at eleven o'clock. Mr. Lancy was waiting there 
to take us to his home, where a good breakfast was 
ready for us. This over, we drove out to the Fort. 
The rivers Jumna and Ganges meet just outside its 
walls. Looking down from the ramparts, the differ- 
ence in the color of the water is strongly marked. The 
Ganges was muddy, and the Jumna clear blue, as they 
flowed along, quite distinct from each other. 



122 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 



The Mela, or religious Fair of the Hindus, is held on 
the narrow strip of land between the walls of the Fort 
and the river. There were between eight and nine 
hundred thousand pilgrims there the week before we 
came, and some of our friends had gone over from 







$ Si 


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'£* ~^J|jf ' r H ' 



BRINDABAN MELA, 1908 

Part of procession with idol car in centre. Priests on left marked on 
foreheads with Vishnu's mark. Images of Krishna and his mistress 
Radha are inside the car, which is being drawn along with rope from 
the Temple to the Garden. 



Lucknow to see the proceedings. The pilgrims come 
long distances, and camp on the banks to bathe in the 
sacred river, — thinking thus to wash their sins away. 
We walked around among them. There was a num- 
ber of fakirs, or so-called holy men, who sat on little 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 123 

wooden platforms full of sharp spikes, with fires blaz- 
ing around them, though the heat of the sun was so 
intense that I could hardly endure it. They were dirty 
and unkempt, with matted hair hanging over their 
shoulders ; and they looked at us with dull, unseeing- 
eyes. 

There was an underground temple there, where a 
thatched roof covered a stairway going down to where 
a hideous red-painted idol, with glass eyes, lay on the 
ground, covered with masses of fragrant white flowers. 
The stairway was covered with worshippers, — poor 
things ! 

The British have held this fort since 1798, and have 
adapted it to modern needs ; and as the Palace in the 
fort is used as an arsenal now, there was nothing of 
special interest there. 

After tiffin, I had a drive around the city, and was 
delighted with it. It is more English than any place 
I have seen in India except Bombay. There are fine 
shady drives, pretty bungalows with gardens, good 
English stores, and interesting native bazaars. 

We resumed our march once more that night, taking 
the ten o'clock train for Benares. We had not much 
chance for sleep, as we had to change cars at three, 
reaching Benares in the first glimpse of daylight; but, 
remarkable to relate, we were really quite fresh when, 
after our early breakfast at the station, we started out 
to see the wonders of this famous city, — which is the 
holy city of India and one of the most ancient. The 
boat ride on the Ganges is the greatest attraction of the 
place for a foreigner. Seated in comfortable basket 
chairs on the upper deck of a large flat-bottomed boat, 
we floated up and down, watching the people. The 



124 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 



river bank is covered with temples, with steps down to 
the water, or little platforms built out over it. Bank, 
platforms, steps, and water were packed with people, 
bathing or washing their garments, and praying to the 
river and the sun. Some of them were having the 
caste marks on their foreheads renewed. AYe were 







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BURNING GHAT. — BENARES 



told that no less than a million pilgrims annually visit 
Benares. 

At the Asi Ghat a wooden pyre was burning, and the 
attendants were piling wood over a corpse that had 
just been placed on another pyre. A third body was 
brought up on a charpoy and lifted from that to its 
pyre, face down. It was then loosely covered with a 
white cloth, wood was piled upon it, and the pyre 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 125 

lighted ; while beside it a young lad stood and wept, — 
a most pathetic sight ! 

The temples and ghats, or landing places, along the 
river are of most varied and picturesque architecture. 
After a couple of hours on the boat during which we 
were glad of the white umbrellas and pith hats be- 
tween us and the scorching sun, we went back to the 
carriages and drove to the Golden Temple, which is in 
the midst of a maze of streets so narrow that it was 
necessary for us to leave the carriage and proceed on 
foot. I shall never forget that walk. We picked our 
way over stones slippery with wet flowers, through a 
crowd of curious, half-angry faces. All around were 
hideous idols decked with flowers ; and the dirt, squalor 
and smells all combined to make one heartsick and 
anxious to get away. We had to pass through a shop 
where they sold flowers, and climb some break-neck 
stairs to an upper balcony on a level with the roof of 
the temple, whence we could look down on the inte- 
rior ; then, descending, we threaded our way through 
the narrow alleys again, and I drew a long breath of 
relief to be safe back in the carriage once more. 

The Durga, or Monkey Temple, is at some distance. 
On entering a gateway in a high wall, one finds one's 
self in a courtyard where there is a small temple, with 
curiously carved pillars. The place swarms with mon- 
keys. The attendants called them together and fed 
them for our amusement. 

The Central Hindu College and School was founded 
by Airs. Annie Besant for the promotion of the Hindu 
religion, to combine the teaching of that faith with a 
Western education. The school is housed in a fine 



126 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

building, and there were a good many bright-faced 
young men and boys around. 

The railway ride from Benares to Calcutta took 
twenty-four hours ; and this, my last journey in India, 
was the most comfortable of all. It was very inter- 
esting to watch the change in the country. The vege- 
tation grew more tropical, and little villages appeared 
on the shores of tiny lakes in the jungle. As we went 
further south, the people became cleaner and neater in 
appearance. Their white garments were snowy in- 
stead of dingy. It grew hotter and hotter, and we 
sighed for the light garments in our trunks. At last 
the long hours wore away, and we reached Howrah, 
where the railway station is, on the other side of the 
river from Calcutta. 

Calcutta was not a bit like what I had imagined it 
would be. The plague was spreading in the city, and 
whenever we went out, our anxious friends warned us 
to be careful. To add to our nervousness we saw 
many lepers on the streets. 

Calcutta cab drivers are the most stupid in the 
world. We had to be on the alert all the time to see 
where we were going; and we found it necessary to 
inquire the way ourselves of the passersby, — who 
often sent us wrong. Under the circumstances, it took 
such a long time to get anywhere that our outings were 
not of unalloyed delight. 

The Maiden or Esplanade is most beautiful, the 
green of its huge trees and the sward beneath them, 
blending with that of the Eden Gardens and the 
grounds of the Government House, is a continuous re- 
freshment to eyes tired of sun-dried brick, baked earth, 
and glaring sky. 



ROUND THE WORLD IX SILENCE 127 

It was in Calcutta that I first saw a crowd of Mo- 
hammedans at evening prayer. I was driving along 
the Chowinghee Road, when my attention was at- 
tracted by a crowd of well-dressed people, standing in 
front of an open space, facing the sunset. Wondering 
what it was that held their interest, I continued to 
watch them, and was amazed to see them all drop on 
their knees and bow down to the ground, repeating 
the prostration over and over again. 

The Kalighat Temple, after which Calcutta was 
named, is on the bank of the old bed of the Ganges, and 
is supposed to have been built three centuries ago. 
Two hundred goats are sacrificed here each day as an 
offering to the goddess Kali. My companions were 
much disturbed by their pitiful cries as they were 
slaughtered. 

The Royal Botanical Gardens are reached by a hot, 
dusty, uninviting drive of more than three hours, but 
they are well worth the discomfort experienced in 
reaching them. The ferneries and orchid house would 
interest even the most jaded. The Great Banyan tree, 
with its four hundred and sixty-four roots, is a small 
forest in itself ; these curious roots hang down from the 
branches and make supplementary tree trunks of them- 
selves. The Great Banyan is a hundred and thirty 
years old. 

Calcutta shops are expensive and not very attractive. 
We found it the best fun to go to the " Market " — a 
huge building where there were arcades of native shops 
full of fascinating things. 

And now my days in India are over — poor, sad. 
fascinating India. 



128 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 



XII 

S. S. Macedonia, in the China Sea. 

INDIA, in spite of its charm and interest, was so 
depressing that we felt no deep regret when the 
Bangala, bound for Rangoon slipped down the 
Hooghly river, with us on board. Our two days on 
that nice clean little boat were very pleasant and rest- 
ful, and its breezy deck was doubly delightful after the 
heat, crowd and dust of Calcutta. The Hooghly is a 
treacherous river, and so difficult to navigate that no 
vessel sails on it at night. We met with no delays, 
but the boat on which the Browns left Calcutta, two 
days ahead of us, ran aground, and did not reach Ran- 
goon until a few hours before we did. The Bangala 
passed Elephant Point early in the afternoon of the 
second day, and, leaving the Bay of Bengal, sailed up 
the Rangoon River and anchored about four miles from 
the city, at sunset. It was quite dark when the tender 
with the health officer came out to us. We had per- 
mission to go up to the city on it, but as the transfer- 
ring from ship to tender in the dark was not inviting, 
the vote to remain on board until morning was unani- 
mous. 

Rangoon strikes one as an unfinished sort of town ; 
the landing place was an ordinary wooden shed, and 
we had to wade through deep sand to reach our ghar- 
ries. There are handsome stone buildings dotted here 
and there among the rows of common wooden build- 
ings. The great Shwe Pagoda dominates the town. 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 129 




130 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

and the gleam of its golden ti can be seen from afar. 
The streets are full of cheerful life and bustle, and one 
is at once attracted by the bright-eyed, clean, and in- 
telligent-looking Burmese. We drove around and vis- 
ited various shops, both English and native. The Bur- 
mese wood-carving is very ambitious, mostly large 
heavy pieces, representing animals and figures, quite 
different from the Indian carving. Their silver work 
is very fine. 

In the European quarter are miles of well-kept roads, 
with villas and gardens. The drive through Dalhousie 
Park and around the Royal Lake was most attractive. 
The roads around this lake are so cunningly planned 
that, whenever we turned a corner, there was a fresh 
vista or charming view of the lake with the sunset 
skies and glimpses of the Great Pagoda across the 
water. 

The visit to the Timber Yards was a novel experi- 
ence. Our carriage halted at the edge of a wide field 
of half dried mud, across which lay a trail of huge 
logs, and over them we picked our way, creeping care- 
fully along so as not to lose our balance and go off in 
the mud, as one poor girl in our party did, splashing in 
above her shoe-tops. On the other side of the field 
two elephants were at work, harnessed by huge chains 
with which they were dragging the heavy teak logs 
slowly along to stack them at the further end of the 
field. 

The great Shwe Dagon Pagoda is the oldest, finest 
and most visited of all the Buddhist temples. Pil- 
grims come from all over the world to worship there. 
It stands on a hill, and is reached by a long flight of 
steps, at the foot of which are two giant leogryphs, 



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131 




132 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 




BURMESE SHRIXE 

with red tongues lolling from their wide-open mouths. 
This stairway is enclosed and roofed, with curious 

At the second flight, one 



paintings under the eaves. 






ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 



133 



comes to the older part, where the passageway is 
floored with cement, and is very slippery, with a step 
here and there breaking the slope. The whole way up 
is lined with stalls, where flowers, prayer flags, brass 
temple gongs, cigars, and many other things are for 
sale. At the summit is the pagoda, three hundred and 
seventy feet high, covered with thin gold plate, and 
surmounted by a gilt ti, or umbrella, on which are 
hung multitudes of gold and silver bells. 




MORNING PRAYER. — SHWE DAGON PAGODA 



Around it is a broad space. It is left open for the 
worshippers, and all around on the outside, shrines are 
crowded haphazard, — large and small, open and 
closed. Some of them were covered Avith dark red or 
blue glass mosaic, with beautiful effect ; others were 
carved or gilded, and still others were of plain stone. 
Everywhere were figures, large and small, of Gautama 
the Buddha, represented as standing, sitting 



or lying 



134 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

down; all of them smiling, sweetly and vacantly. Be- 




fore nearly every shrine, a stout cross-beam supported 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 135 

a number of brass discs or bells, which the worshipper 
struck to call the attention of men to his piety and the 
attention of the gods to his prayer. 

Amongst the shrines with which the great platform 
is crowded are stalls for the sale of curiosities. Wor- 
shippers were kneeling or arranging flowers in tiny 
terra-cotta vases before the shrines. It was a scene 
of greatest animation and interest. Here also is the 
huge bell that is considered the third largest in the 
world. The English started to carry it away as a 
trophy after their war with Burma, but by some mishap 
it was sunk to the bottom of the Rangoon River. 
Then, as the English engineers did not succeed in 
raising it, the Burmese were given permission to raise 
it if they pleased. The English had no expectation 
that anything could be accomplished, but the Burmese 
succeeded, not only in getting the bell up from the 
river, but also in hanging it again. 

Rangoon was so interesting I was sorry to leave. 
The boats for Penang only run fortnightly, and the 
regular boat had just gone, but the Dunera was mak- 
ing a special trip to bring up an English Royal Duke 
and Duchess, thus giving us a chance to connect with 
the Macedonia for Hong Kong. It seemed specially 
intended for us, so we went gaily down to the tender, 
but our gaiety died away when we got on board and 
discovered how small and crowded the cabins were. 
Every one of the four berths in each stateroom had 
been taken ; and the heat was intense, both day and 
night. Many of the passengers had their beds taken 
up on deck ; and to those of us who clung to our berths, 
the nights seemed endless. At last the three days 
wore away, and early on Sunday morning we anchored 



136 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 



off Penang. An hour later, when the tender came, we 
were all ready to leave, with no lingering this time. 
The harbor was full of queer little Chinese rowboats, 
with huge eyes painted on the stern. You know the 
Chinese say their boats can't see where they are going, 
if they have no eyes. 




THE LANDING. — PENANG 



Penang fascinated me from the moment I set foot on 
land. Fine stone buildings surround the broad open 
space on which the landing fronts. In driving through 
the streets, I bobbed back and forth in a vain effort to 
take in all the strange sights, — the Chinese stores, 
with fluttering red paper tags all over the front ; Chi- 
nese women in black glazed cotton trousers ; funny 
little almond-eved babies ; coolies with basket hats and 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 137 

two more baskets suspended from a pole balanced on 
their shoulders ; Ceylonese with their round hair 
combs ; Indians in white turbans ; fat Chinese men in 
European garb, riding in jinrickishas; Chinese houses 
with gorgeous carved and gilded doors opening di- 
rectly on the street ; elegant carriages, drawn by fine 
horses, and filled with quaint slant-eyed children, who 
were covered with jewelry; beautiful, wide streets, 
shaded by wonderful tropical trees, bordered by rows 
of villas, where Chinese babies, with thickly powdered 
faces, played on the grassy lawns. These babies were 
the most comical little things. Their little bald heads 
were literally white-washed with powder, — sometimes 
it was the little face, and sometimes the whole head. 
They tell me it is necessary in this hot, moist air, to 
protect the tender skin. Some of the babies went in 
for a touch of color, and instead of having the head 
totally shaved, had a " bang " all around the top, and 
from this hung a scalp lock tied with red ribbon. 

Penang is only eighty miles from the equator, but, 
they say, the thermometer never rises higher than 
eighty-eight degrees. Nevertheless I felt the heat 
more than on any August day in New York, though 
our quarters were most airy and comfortable. Our 
hosts tried to teach us how to eat all sorts of strange 
fruit, — such as durian, which smells like kerosene oil, 
and looks, when opened, like pieces of halibut, and 
chipo, that makes one think of baked potato, and 
tastes like rotten apple. The pumelo, jack fruit, 
and mangosteen were a few more that we tasted. I 
counted seven different varieties of fruit on our table 
at one meal. It was the time of the Chinese New 
Year, and nearly every day, gifts of Chinese dainties 



138 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

were sent us. The sea-weed jelly, rice candy, and 
cakes, were delicious. 

On February 12th, which is the Chinese New Year's 
Day, we went calling, — a long procession of us, — in 
our jinrickishas. It was nine o'clock when we started, 
and it took us all the rest of the morning to make three 
calls. The first was at a Christian Chinese home. 
We passed through a drug store into a large room, 
evidently the family living-room, where the two ladies 
of the house greeted us. When we had all been seated, 
they withdrew to a corner, where stood a large cabinet 
full of neatly arranged soda-water bottles, tins of 
English biscuit and a variety of Chinese dainties. 
While they were busy there, we had time to inspect 
the room. The tiled floor was depressed in one corner 
about a foot lower than the rest of the floor, and on the 
ledge around it were flowering plants in handsome 
stone jars. There were portraits on the walls, and the 
chairs and settees, ranged along the walls, were of 
handsome carved ebony, contrasting oddly with the 
common deal dining-table and chairs in the middle of 
the room. Our hostess came back laden with trays 
full of little round dishes of delicious-looking things, 
amber-clear sea-weed jelly, strips of candied pumpkin, 
crystallized fruit, and various unknown delicacies. 
They pressed us to try everything, and presented the 
trays again and again. Conversation languished, as 
they knew little English, and we less Chinese. 

The second house was a heathen home, and the 
heavy carved and gilded door was opened by my lady 
herself, who fluttered away as we came in, and flut- 
tered back accompanied by her mother-in-law and fol- 
lowed by her husband, a young man in dainty lavender 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 139 

silk. We shook hands all around and sat down. The 
two ladies, who were evidently highly delighted, ran in 
and out with entirely superfluous chairs, while the 
husband busied himself pouring tea for us. The room 
was beautifully furnished. All the furniture was of 
carved ebony, inlaid with pearl, and there were gold- 
embroidered scarlet satin cushions on the chairs. 
Oddly enough, the brick floor was uncovered. At one 
end of the room, a large ancestral tablet hung on the 
wall, and under it was an ebony table set out with a 
feast for the spirits of the grandfather and grand- 
mother ; about the table chairs stood in waiting for the 
ghostly visitors. There was an ordinary round dining- 
table in the middle of the room, and, when cane chairs 
had been set out around it, we were invited to occupy 
them and partake of sweetmeats, oranges, preserved 
mangosteens and candied fruit. Our little hostess, 
who was very shy, could speak English, for she had 
been at school for six years, as she proudly informed 
us. We had been left alone to eat ; but when the little 
wife was caught peeping in, we coaxed her to come 
and sit with us. Her jewels were gorgeous, and they 
tell me that the Chinese never wear imitation gems. 
This little woman wore a red and yellow striped cotton 
skirt, a white cotton jacket with pink flowers, slippers, 
but no stockings, and heavy gold anklets. Her jacket 
was fastened by four large diamond pins, the largest 
being at least three inches in diameter. In her hair 
were six pins covered with diamonds. Diamonds 
twinkled in her ears, and on her fingers, around her 
neck was an exquisite gold filigree chain, and on her 
wrists magnificent bracelets. The family fortune 
seemed to have all been hung upon her, as the mother- 



140 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

in-law had only a few jewelled pins in her hair as orna- 
ment. The little wife, when we admired her jewels, 
politely returned the compliment over our modest ar- 
ray, and then asked if we would like to go upstairs. 
We all followed her, up a steep narrow stair in the 
next room, into a bed room, where there was a large 
musical box and several young Chinese ladies, all more 
or less glittering with gems. We admired each other's 
jewelry, hair and dresses; the musical box was wound 
up for our benefit, and the Chinese ladies were much 
interested at seeing me listen to the music by putting 
my hands on the box. They showed us some beauti- 
ful bead-work, and took us into a real Chinese bed- 
room, all furnished in red lacquer and gilt. The little 
wife was the only one that could speak English; but 
with the aid of natural signs we made the others under- 
stand us. 

Penang, like many other cities, boasts the " most 
beautiful botanical garden in the world ". The Ayer 
I tarn Temple, one of Penang's show-places, has a small 
pond in its grounds, where there are a number of 
sacred tortoises, cared for by the monks. To have 
one's name carved on the back of one of these reptiles 
insures having one's sins forgiven as long as the crea- 
ture lives, and, as they often live to be over a hundred, 
this means for a long while. A family name insures 
the whole family. Of course this means a fat fee to 
the priest. 

I called one day on Mrs. T , a very sweet Chinese 

lady, whose sister, an attractive young girl, who has 
since died, visited my home some years ago. Her 
beautiful home was Chinese-English, the lower floor 
with its carved ebonv furniture and arrangement of 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 141 

rooms was quite Chinese ; upstairs, I was ushered into 
a distinctively English drawing-room, with easy chairs, 
pictures, and bric-a-brac. I had to pinch myself, to 




MRS. T , HER LITTLE SON— BUDDIE AND HIS FATHER 

AND MOTHER 

realize that I was not in London. That realization 
came shortly, when some Chinese children called. The 
little things were so loaded with jewels that it did not 
seem as if there were room for a single spangle left on 



142 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

their small persons. Mrs. T herself was dressed 

most simply and daintily in pale blue challis. Her 
little son, ten months old, in his New Year's array of 
tiny trousers and coat of pale blue brocaded satin, 
trimmed with black velvet, and a black velvet Tarn 
o'Shanter, which she had made with her own fair 
fingers, made the very " cutest " picture I ever saw. 
Her husband is a brilliant man, a graduate of the Uni- 
versity of Edinburgh, with a long list of honors from 
various European universities. 

On our last night in Penang we took dinner with an 
American family, thus having a delightful bit of home 
life. The long table was surrounded by children of all 
sizes, who had been out in the country on a picnic, and 
were full of tales of what they had seen during the 
day. I had a chance to look over home magazines and 
papers that I had not seen for months, and later they 
took me to see an old Chinese lady, with bound feet, 
who was at work embroidering a new pair of shoes for 
herself. Our hostess came to see us off in the morn- 
ing, and finding me in despair because the laundry- 
man, in spite of most faithful promises, had failed to 
return my prettiest blouse waist, volunteered to go 
after it ; she met us at the dock with a dripping bundle, 
fresh from the tub. The beautiful big Macedonia, the 
same boat which we had watched sail from Port Said 
for Australia three months before, left Penang at noon 
with us on board. It is now en route from London to 
Shanghai, but we leave it at Hong Kong. I have a 
deck stateroom all to myself, and am enjoying every 
moment. At two o'clock in the afternoon, the day 
after leaving Penang, we came to anchor at Singapore, 
near the U. S. warship Baltimore which, as well as all 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 143 

the other shipping in the harbor, was covered with 
flags and bunting. Salutes were being fired, and 
everything was excitement over an English royal duke 
who was sailing around the harbor inspecting the 
craft. 

After we had waited an hour, the tender to take us 
ashore finally appeared, and the whole crowd of us 
Avedged in on the little craft. There were no seats ; 
and between the heat of the sun and that of the ma- 
chinery we were all done brown by the time we landed. 

Our party had gone ashore, expecting to take a ride 
around the city, do a little shopping, and then return 
to the ship, but on the dock one of the Methodist mis- 
sionaries was waiting to take us to the Publishing 
House, which is almost opposite the dock. Here we 
were told that everything had been arranged for us all 
to stay over night on shore, and that invitation had 
already been given for an afternoon reception at which 
the U S. Consul and his Avife Avould be present. 

Singapore is a very attractiA^e city, and, being near 
the greatest tin mines in the Avorld, is a great trade 
centre. 

Our driA^e terminated on the crown of Sophia Hill, 
where Ave Avere to spend the night. It is a beautiful 
spot, with a glorious view, OA^er the trees, of the city 
below, and the bay with our queenly Macedonia at 
anchor. Reception and dinner OA^er, a party of us went 
out to one of the suburbs, to a Malay Mohammedan 
wedding. We Avent doAvn the hill by way of a stair- 
way on the top of a stone wall, which terminated near 
a trolley line. It Avas so long since I had been on a 
trolley car, that the rapid ride in the soft warm air, 
through the gaily-lighted streets of Chinese stores 



144 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

decked with huge lanterns was very delightful. At 
the edge of the city we left the car and felt our way 
along a dark country road to the foot of a long hill, 
and then up a wide terraced path, with Chinese lanterns 
strung along each side up to the house on the top. 
The male element of the occasion was congregated 
outside the door, waiting for the bridegroom. They 
greeted us with much cordiality, and ushered us into 
the house, or rather into a small room, neatly furnished 
with new matting and a number of cuspidors. At a 
door in the further end, the lady of the house welcomed 
us into the inner room, where there were a number of 
Malay women sitting on the floor all along the walls. 
We sat down near the door and, as etiquette seemed 
to demand silence, we had ample time to observe our 
surroundings. The floor was covered with strips of 
Brussels carpet, laid just to fit into each other, and not 
fastened down. There was a small platform at one 
end of the room for the bride, and at the other end a 
large platform, extending all the way across the room, 
with steps and a wide cushion or mattress on top. 
This was to be the bridal bed and was completely cov- 
ered with Turkey red, ornamented with wide bands of 
handsome gilt leather cut work ; at one end was a large 
pile of pillows, similarly covered and ornamented ; and 
in the middle was the small lace-covered pillow the 
Chinese have in the middle of all their beds. They call 
it the " Dutch wife ". Back of this platform a heavy 
curtain hid the rest of the room, and we were told the 
bride was behind it. Chinese weddings last three 
days ; and the groom is not allowed to see his wife until 
the third day. This was the second day of this wed- 
ding. The women around us sat immovable, chewing 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 145 

pan. Each woman had beside her a small wooden box 
holding two brass bowls and a bunch of green leaves; 
she also had a brass cuspidor. She would pluck a leaf 
from the bunch, and place thereon a betel nut and a 
portion of white paste from one of the bowls, and chew 
the whole industriously. I'll draw a veil over the rest. 
An hour passed ; and the small room with its one 
window, that had been sweltering at the beginning, 
became almost too much for us. Suddenly things 
woke up ; the curious candelabra of wax, wire and 
worsted, were lighted on the platform, and the curtain 
over the door was lifted for the bridegroom, who came 
in, followed by his best man, a handsome boy of 
twelve, most gorgeously arrayed. They sat down on 
the platform, facing the room, incense was lighted, and 
a tray covered with little brass bowls was set out. The 
bride's father came in and, seating himself just below 
the bridegroom, took a green sprig from the tray, 
clipped it into the different ingredients in the different 
trays and touched up the groom's fingers and the palms 
of his hands ; this done, he departed, and a priest with a 
shawl over his head to keep him from the sin of seeing 
any women, stumbled in and groped his way to the 
place vacated, repeating the process the father had 
gone through. The groom seemed to think this very 
amusing, for he laughed heartily with a brilliant dis- 
play of white teeth, while the priest made his way 
out. Another priest in a beautiful pink silk robe that 
came down to his heels, then made his appearance, and 
took his turn at painting the groom's finger nails and 
palms. When he went out, the masculine part of the 
ceremony seemed to be over, for the groom and his 
best man followed him. 



146 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

The curtain over the door having been fastened, that 
behind the platform was lifted, and the bride, who 
seemed to have been sitting on the other side of the 
platform all the time, was shifted around to face us. 
Her eyes were closed and she seemed almost insensi- 
ble. A woman behind held up her head with both 
hands. The front of her gown glittered with jewels, 
and on her head blazed and sparkled a beautiful dia- 
mond crown, while a mass of flowers in gold and 
jewels stood up from the back of her head, above the 
crown. They say Chinese brides often faint under the 
weight of their jewelry, and certainly this poor girl 
looked as if she were only half alive. She was held 
up by the women around her while three old women in 
turn repeated the process with her hands that had been 
gone through with the bridegroom. Then she was 
shifted round again, the curtain was drawn, and the 
incense and candelabra were extinguished. 

We thought it was now time to go ; but it appeared 
that the steps leading down to the outer room had 
been taken away, as part of the ceremony, so we had 
to wait until they were replaced. The hostess, in the 
meantime, appeared with trays of tea, sea-weed jelly 
and delicious sponge cakes for us, which we ate, with 
all the other women looking on with great interest. 
After we had eaten we shook hands with the hostess, 
and climbed over the cane-bottomed chair they had 
placed under the door. The men seemed to think this 
performance a great joke, for they all doubled up with 
laughter as they watched us descend. We went by 
trolley and jinrickisha back to the end of the road on 
Sophia Hill, where it was so very dark that we had to 
feel our way along to the house, where a spook in a 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 147 

white gown let us in at a trap door over a stairway 
which led up from the piazza. 

They called us very early in the morning, and we 
had our Chota Hazari while dressing, so as to be ready 
to start on the rickisha ride to the Botanical Gardens 
at seven o'clock. This is another garden which the 
natives proudly term "the most beautiful in the world" 
— and it certainly was very fine. 

At eleven o'clock we were steaming out of Singa- 
pore's beautiful harbor into the green water of the 
Straits of Malacca, which was as smooth as the water 
of a lake. The voyage has been delightful. It was 
hot at first, but has grown colder as we have journeyed 
northward, so our winter wraps have been unpacked, 
and our pith hats, which we all dislike most heartily, 
have been discarded. We shall leave the steamer at 
Hong Kong in full winter array. We are due there 
to-morrow, and I can hardly wait. I do so hope we 
shall get in before banking hours are over. My letters 
have been accumulating at the International Banking 
Company's office there for nearly two months, and 
when I tell you that I have not had a letter from home 
for over a month you will understand my impatience. 

I am so sorry for the Grays. They were in such 
haste to get to the bank for their mail when we reached 
Singapore ; but the tender was so late that we did not 
land until after the banks were closed. One of the 
Singapore gentlemen volunteered to go to the city for 
them the first thing in the morning, which he did, — 
and then forgot all about giving the mail to them. 
Molly, who came out on the last boat, said that as it 
left the dock s^ie saw him frantically pull letters out 
of his pockets and Avave them ; but it was too late, and 
the Grays were bitterly disappointed. 



148 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 



XIII 

On Board the S. S. Macedonia, Hong Kong. 

THIS has been such an interesting day! If only 
you could have been here to enjoy it with me. 
Our ship sailed into this harbor, — rightly called 
the most beautiful in the world, — and came to anchor 
at dawn this morning. The ceasing of the vibration 
of the machinery woke me, and I got up to peep out 
between the slats of my shuttered window, for the 
wonder of waking in a new land never loses its fascina- 
tion for me. 

The hills around the bay rise so near the water that 
there is only a little strip of level ground, and all the 
buildings face toward the bay, and have rows of piazzas 
enclosed in arches across their fronts all the way up to 
the roof. This type of architecture, they say, is best 
adapted to the peculiar climate, where the heat is so 
intense in summer, and all the breezes come from the 
water ; the surrounding hills cut off all the land breeze. 
But from the water these arched recesses have a most 
peculiar look, giving the impression of hundreds of 
vacant expressionless eyes staring at one. 

When I went on deck, ready to go ashore, the wait- 
ing group by the rail had an oddly unfamiliar look. 
Strange, what a difference ones head-gear makes ! 
After so many months of seeing every European face 
surmounted by a pith hat, the disappearance of these 



ROUXD THE WORLD IN SILENCE 149 

hats helped me to realize that I had left the tropics 
behind. Of course we were all in a twitter of excite- 
ment over landing in " far Cathay ". The first novelty 
that struck us on reaching the broad Praya or sea-wall 
was the discovery that Hong Kong had no carriages 
of any sort, sedan chairs and jinrickishas being its only 
means of transportation. The jinrickishas are by far 
the most delightful ; the sedan chairs are carried by 
three men, who swing the chair from side to side as 
they trot rapidly along, and scowl menacingly if one 
does not sit perfectly still. The grey stone buildings 
of the foreign city look very English. Hong Kong is 
really the name of the island, and Victoria that of the 
city thereon. Hong Kong, and Kowloon, on the other 
side of the bay, belong to Great Britain. 

We Avere just in time to see the ceremonies incident 
to the landing of the Japanese Prince Fushimi. A 
troop of red-coated English soldiers came marching 
down to the landing place, where they opened ranks 
to form a lane, in the midst of which moved their 
officers, resplendent in gold lace. The centre of all 
this was a plain little brown man, whom they con- 
ducted to a sedan chair, in which he was borne away. 
The soldiers disappeared, and we settled down to the 
business of getting our baggage taken to the Canadian 
Pacific Office. Our impedimenta disposed of, Molly, 
Bud and I went off to Chinatown shopping. This 
Chinatown does not look a bit like the Chinatown we 
saw at San Francisco. Its streets are wide and clean. 
The latticed windows and gay red and gold wooden 
signs are the same, but the stores are much more at- 
tractive, especially the jewellers' with their gold and 
silver filigree work, wonderful ivory carvings, and 



150 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 



array of translucent green jade. Molly says the 
Chinese are as fond of jade as we are of diamonds, — 




and it is almost as expensive. Then there are fasci- 
nating places where they sell drawn-work and em- 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 151 

broidered blouses and robes. The Chinese dry goods 
stores are unlike any others. They have no sign of 
anything for sale, — merely a counter, and some 
shelves, which, instead of having piles of goods, show 
nothing but a mass of brown paper streamers. Each 
piece of goods is kept wrapped in soft white paper, 
with an outside wrapping of brown, and a description 
tag of tough brown paper dangling from one end of 
the bundle. You would have been in ecstasies over 
the beautiful shimmering brocades, soft silks, and 
transparent gauzes which they unwrapped for our in- 
spection. 

The trolley ride up the Peak, which we took later, 
after luncheon in a German restaurant, would surely 
have delighted you. It was a thrilling experience, the 
inclined railway is so nearly perpendicular. Half way 
up, the car stopped and slipped backward, — or was it 
my excited fancy ? — but the end of the line was 
reached in safety. This was not at the top of the 
mountain, however; the rest of the ascent has to be 
made by sedan chair. The view is superb, — the bay 
with its shipping, surrounded by mountains, and, be- 
low us, the hillside covered with terraced gardens and 
handsome residences. 

To-night, from the salon window beside which I am 
sitting, the illuminated Peak, the bright lights of the 
city and the shipping around us, make an even more 
beautiful picture. 

Our party is to transfer to the Japanese steamer 
Nikkon Maru early to-morrow, and sail for Manila at 
eleven o'clock, while the Macedonia leaves for Shang- 
hai an hour later. 



152 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

Lope de Vaga St., Manila. 
Later. — 

The little Nikkon Maru was a marvel of neatness. 
Everything possible had been provided to make the 
staterooms comfortable, and in the tiny saloon, with 
its cut velvet pictures and strange dwarf plants, enter- 
tainment in the shape of albums of Japanese water- 
colors had been provided, and I promised myself some 
pleasant hours over them. But we were hardly out- 
side the harbor before it became very rough ; the fly- 
ing spray beat against the saloon windows, and it was 
necessary for our chairs to be lashed to the rail. I am 
never sea-sick, but once ensconced in my steamer chair 
it seemed best to stay there, and it really was a delight 
to sit there, snugly wrapped up from the flying spray, 
and watch the huge waves thundering around our little 
boat, which rode them like a bird. The second day 
was more moderate, and at noon, \ forty-eighty hours 
after leaving Hong Kong, the Nikkon slipped past 
Corregidor Island into the bay, and two hours later 
came to anchor in the harbor. Before this I had gone 
down to the cabin to do the repacking for my sick 
room m mate and myself. This was no joke with the 
trunks sliding around with every movement of the 
ship. I had to dodge the one while I held on to the 
other and crammed things into it. However, I was 
alive and ready to see all there was to be seen when 
we came into the harbor ; but there is nothing to be 
seen of Manila from a distance, the buildings and 
shores lie so low. Six of our beautiful white battle- 
ships were at anchor in the bay, and the flutter of our 
glorious flag made it like a home coming. And such 
a welcome our ship had! Half the population of Ma- 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 153 

nila must have had long lost brothers or sisters on 
board; such a crowd of steam launches, filled with 
black-eyed senors, senoritas, and beautiful little chil- 
dren gathered around ! They were all laughing, talk- 
ing, smoking and calling to their friends on board. It 
was a gay scene ; and some of the welcome was for us, 
for our hosts had come out with a launch to meet us. 
So great was the crowd of boats gathered around that 
we had to climb over the decks of several to reach our 
own. 

Manila is a surprise to me. Instead of the sleepy 
Spanish town I had expected, here is a bustling wide- 
awake cosmopolitan city, with electric lights and elec- 
tric trolley. American policemen keep order on the 
Escolta, — the city's Broadway, — where, in American 
stores, one can get an outfit right from " the States ", 
or next door, where nothing but Spanish is spoken, one 
can try, as I did, to lay in a supply of note paper, or a 
Manila hat. Then there is real American ice cream to 
be had at Clarke's. The queer conveyances are a 
never-failing source of interest ; there were carts with 
solid wooden wheels a foot in thickness ; sleds made of 
branches lashed together, drawn by the slow-moving 
bullock ; the native cabs here take the form of phaetons 
with the hood and seat very far back, a wee seat in the 
middle of the front serving for the driver, where he 
sits with his feet out in the cold world. The people 
are most interesting of all ; Filipino girls in big pompa- 
dours and gauzy waists, crowds of school boys, im- 
maculate in white duck, khaki-clad soldier boys from 
home, the Filipino with his beloved game cock in his 
arms, and the never-ending stream of women with 
marketing baskets upon their heads. The variety in 



154 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

these baskets is great, and I am continually twisting 
my neck trying to get a full view of the contents, — 
fish, vegetables, bananas, some bright-hued goods ; 
thread, worsted and cakes are part of the collection I 
saw in one basket. Another source of wonder is, how 
they manage to keep those heel-less slippers on their 
bare feet. There are not so many junior Adams and 
Eves without their fig leaves as there are in India and 
Ceylon. The demure little girls are the very counter- 
parts of their mothers, even to the trained skirt and 
hair coiled on the top of the head. 

This is just at the end of what they call the " cold 
season ", and from sundown until ten o'clock in the 
morning the air is delightful. After that, the mercury 
goes up among the nineties. At twelve all the stores 
close, and every one goes into siesta until three o'clock, 
— a survival of the old Spanish rule. 

Our kind hosts made up a party to take us to Cavite, 
the other day. We crossed the bay on a Government 
steam launch, passing over the exact spot where 
Dewey fought. It was a glorious day, and the sail 
over the sparkling water was one never to be forgot- 
ten. From time to time rowboats from the United 
States battleships hailed us, to receive or deliver mail, 
or to transfer the officers they had as passengers. 
Admiral Brownson was one of these. We were landed 
at the navy yard, where the officers' houses, with their 
pretty gardens, looked very attractive. The machine 
shops did not interest me as much as the outlook from 
the ramparts, to get to which I covered myself with 
prickly burrs. We had such a lot of fun over our 
picnic lunch, which started with a bag of sandwiches, 
eaten in the big room used as a library and recreation 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 



155 



hall by the soldiers. Those sandwiches were disap- 
pearing rapidly, when Mr. Harper rose and slipped out, 
to appear again shortly, with a loaf of bread and a can 
of Heinz beans, followed by a man loaded with bottles 
of aerated water. The men cut bread and opened the 
bottles with their jack knives, and we all voted it the 
best lunch we had ever eaten. The sail back was even 
more delightful than the one coming. 




A HOME IN THE PHILIPPINES 



Yesterday we had a little trip into the interior; some 
of us going to Pasig, starting early in the morning, by 
train. On this railroad the first and second class cars 
are like those in Europe, and the third class are like 
ours. Everything was new, fresh, and clean, and the 
ride through the pretty country with its green rice 
fields and picturesque villages was all too short. 

This was followed by another ride in a two-wheeled 
native cart through beautiful country lanes and streets 



156 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 



of nipa houses. We alighted outside an old church, 
whose interior was as like as possible to the old Mis- 
sion Church we explored together in Southern Cali- 
fornia. After a while I wandered out, leaving the rest 
in one of the chapels. The streets were empty, and 
our drivers both asleep. I was about to turn back, 
when I caught sight of one of the ladies of our party 









j 


— 


^ - * 



NATIVE GIRL IN PASIG, P. I. 



on the upstairs verandah of the house opposite, and, 
thinking it an opportunity to see the inside of a native 
house, I called to ask if I might come in. On receiving 
an affirmative reply, I found my way through a court- 
yard where a sleepy cat half opened an eye, and some 
drowsy chickens stopped scratching at my approach. 
In the big kitchen at the head of the stairs the lady of 
the house greeted me cordially, offering me cigarettes. 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 157 

We were smiling amicably at each other, when, from 
across the street, the call came for me to return to the 
church, where a Catholic priest was baptizing six little 
Filipinos. Each tiny mortal was such a bundle of long 
silk robes and gay embroidery that there was nothing 
to be seen of the baby. When this exciting event was 
over, the village went to sleep again, and we set out 
for the river to wait for the steamer going down to 
Manila. The native ferry had its landing at the foot 
of the street, and there was a steady stream of people 
coming and going. All the women carried baskets on 
their heads, and when they paid the ferry due, the man 
in charge made them take down their baskets and show 
him the contents before he let them go. The ferry 
boat was a long, narrow affair, hollowed out of a log, 
in which the people stood up in a row, and the boat, 
instead of going straight across, made a wide curve 
up the stream, coming down at the stepping-stones on 
the other side. I amused myself taking pictures of it, 
and of the natives sitting around in their doorways, 
busily engaged in doing nothing. Finally we got tired 
of waiting for the steamer, and embarked in two of the 
banca, or native boats, that were lying at the bank. 
These boats, also, were hollowed out of logs, out- 
riggers kept them steady, bamboo slats composed the 
floor on which we sat, and a bamboo matting, over- 
head, kept off the sun. I was enjoying myself hugely 
when the river steamer appeared and we were pulled 
alongside. The men of our party climbed up, and the 
rest of us were pulled and pushed until we reached the 
deck. And what a sight that deck was ! Every inch 
of space was crowded with produce, farming imple- 
ments, and natives, and a stretcher, holding a poor 



158 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

creature covered with terrible sores, filled the middle 
of the deck. There seemed to be no room for us ; but 
they wedged up a little more, and even found a couple 
of chairs. The green banks of the river were very 
pretty ; here and there, huge carabao were wallowing 
in the mud near the shore. Near the city we passed a 
beautiful residence, facing the water, with steps lead- 
ing down from its spacious shady grounds to the 
water. 

I wish you and I could explore the Intramuros, or 
walled city, together. It is the heart of Manila, and 
all the old churches and relics of the days of Spanish 
rule are there. Its old walls are suggestive of mys- 
terious secret chambers, underground dungeons, and 
all sorts of gruesome things. No one knows what 
may have happened there. Perhaps the Padres do, but 
they tell nothing. The natives do not care ; and thus 
far the Americans have been too busy with their work 
of making the city clean and healthful to delve into 
past mysteries ; but the time will come. 

The modern Church of the Jesuits on the Calle 
Arzobispo is reputed to be the most beautiful of 
Manila's many churches. Its exterior is plainness it- 
self, but the interior is full of ravishingly beautiful 
wood-carving; the ceiling is covered with panelling, 
columns and arches are wreathed with garlands, and 
the pulpit is covered with exquisite work. I was in 
raptures, for you know how interested I am in the art. 

We tried to get into St. Augustine's Church, the 
oldest in Manila. It covers a whole city block, and we 
drove around and around looking for an open door. 
A smiling Padre appeared in response to our raps at 
one of the doors, but he merely spread out his arms to 



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159 



bar the way, shrugged his shoulders and shook his 
head, when we asked for admission. Evidently he 
" had no English ". We then tried gestures, pointing 
to ourselves and to the interior, but he only shook his 
head, and planted himself more firmly against the 
door. There Avas no " open sesame " for us, and we 
had to give it up. 




PACO CEMETERY. — MANILA 



Manila has one of the strangest places in the world 
in which to bury its dead. On the last day of our stay, 
a friend sent my roommate and me out to Paco 
Cemetery in her carriage. On entering a gateway in 
a high white circular wall, we found ourselves in a 
ring-like enclosure between this wall, which was eight 
feet or more in thickness, and an inner Avail. Between 



160 



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the two were grass, trees and a walk. The inner wall 
surrounds a garden with a small chapel in the midst, 
in which are the tombs of the Governors, Generals, 
and Prelates. The vaults are in the two walls, which 
are covered from top to bottom on the inner side with 
inscriptions, sculptures and flowers. It is all very 
carefully kept, and there were a number of people 




PACO CEMETERY. — MANILA 



there, busy arranging fresh flowers and replacing 
candles. 

While we were eating dinner, on the last night of 
our stay, the two men of our party returned, dusty 
and travel-worn, from their two days' trip to Dagupan. 
They were full of enthusiasm, displaying hats, a real 
bolo, and other curiosities. I was so envious of their 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 161 

having seen more of the interior than I had that they 
tried to console me by assuring me I would have been 
black and blue from head to foot from the long ride. 

I was so loth to leave Manila that I would have 
postponed my departure if my courage had been equal 
to the transhipment alone at Hong Kong; but it could 
not stand that strain, and so I was one of those who 
saluted the Stars and Stripes as we passed under the 
walls of old Fort Santiago on the way down the river. 
A new building, on top of the old walls, is the head- 
quarters of the United States Army of the Philippines. 
A moment later the long harbor wall built by the 
Americans to keep back the tide, — which over- 
flowed the streets in the old days, — was rounded, 
and Manila vanished from our sight. Another minute 
and I was climbing the ladder to the Rubi. 

It was interesting to watch the seven hundred and 
fifty-seven steerage passengers come on board. They 
were all Chinese. Two customs inspectors stood at 
the head of the ladder and pounced on them as they 
came on board, ran inquisitive fingers over them in 
search for concealed weapons, and opened the um- 
brellas they carried, — for each man had one, — 
sometimes a whole bundle of them. Wasn't that odd? 
Well, those inspectors shook out every one of those 
umbrellas, opened their boxes and counted their 
money, and though they were lightning-like in rapid- 
ity, nothing escaped them. 

The ship was to sail at half past nine, but did not 
move until one o'clock. Then began the most woeful 
time of my whole trip. I never want to hear of that 
boat again. The Chinese " boys " were cross ; — no 
matter how old a Chinese steward is, he is dubbed 



162 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

" boy ". We did not get enough to eat. Some of the 
folks did not want to eat ; but I did. The deck was 
too wet for comfort, and in the saloon it was impos- 
sible to keep out of a draught, and oh, the " stunts " 
that boat did perform ! We had to hold on somewhere 
all the time, and then, after all our efforts to keep 
warm, what did the steward d$ but serve ice cream 
every morning at eleven o'clock, instead of the good 
hot broth for which even the sick ones longed. The 
very sight of that ice cream was enough to freeze the 
marrow of one's spinal column. It was so late at night 
when the Rubi got into Hong Kong bay that we could 
not go ashore until morning. Two of the party had 
been dreadfully sea-sick all the way from Manila ; and 
altogether we were a most forlorn-looking lot when Ave 
landed. 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 163 



XIV 

The P. and O. S. S. Malta. 

MY last letter had to come to an abrupt end ; 
and I am writing now from the steamer on 
my way to Shanghai. I have slept on land 
only seven times since we left Penang, so you see I 
am having some experience of a sea-faring life. The 
Malta is almost as comfortable as the Macedonia was, 
and the food and attendance are of the best. But 
before I go on, I must tell you of the trip to Canton 
we took on reaching Hong Kong on the return from 
Manila. The Fengshaw, the Chinese river-boat on 
which we left Hong Kong at night for Canton, was 
very clean and well arranged, with large staterooms, 
almost like those on the Hudson River night-boats, 
and finished the ninety miles between Hong Kong and 
Canton during the night. When I awoke, we were at 
anchor in the middle of the river, and surrounded by 
a swarm of the most curious boats I had ever seen. 
We had such a " swell " guide that day ; — a real 
Chinese gentleman in a long black broadcloth robe, 
and black satin shoes and cap ! He spoke English 
well, and was dignity itself. The neatest of the Sam- 
pans crowding around came up to the gangway at his 
call, and I was glad to have a chance to see the inside 
of one of the boats in which thousands of Chinese 
spend their lives, — some of them never going on 
shore at all. We crawled under the bamboo roof in 
the middle of the one we inspected, and found that 



164 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

an idol and some pictures decorated the wall. Women., 
children, cats, dogs, fowls and cooking apparatus filled 
the space at the ends. Pater familias evidently lives 
ashore, for the boat was managed by a woman, and an 
attractive picture she made, with her satin-smooth 
black hair, filled with a bright array of hairpins, her 
immaculately clean, if faded, blue linen jacket and 
trousers, and bare feet. She was the personification 
of grace, as she stood on the swaying plank in the 
middle of the boat and worked the single long oar 
projecting from the stern. 

We landed at a stairway in a broad stone Avail, in 
the Shameen, or foreign settlement. The walk along 
the river is very pretty. It is bordered by fine stone 
residences with trees and gardens. After a short walk 
through the " foreign " settlement, we crossed a bridge 
over a canal, and were in the Chinese city. Here our 
guide had sedan chairs in readiness, and our day in 
the maze of Canton's streets began. 

The first place we visited was the hall of five 
hundred Genii, where five hundred figures represent 
the disciples of Buddha. They are quaint and amus- 
ing. All are made of plaster, made to represent gilt 
bronze, and each one is shaped to express the idea 
which it embodies. For example : one has a great 
many eyes, to signify that he could see everything ; 
another, with extra long arms, could reach anywhere. 
We all shouted over the figure, dressed in so-called 
" foreign " clothes, that was introduced to us as Marco 
Polo, the great traveller. These figures are arranged 
on shelves around the walls, and on the tables which 
filled up nearly all the space in the middle of the room. 
In the very centre was a sort of a pagoda with a 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 165 

divinity on each side. Beside this sat a priest beating 
a drum, while another walked around, saying prayers. 

The Doctor Temple is near this hall, and is dedi- 
cated to the god of medicine. There are sixty idols 
there, and one prays for recovery before the idol whose 
number corresponds with his own age. If he be over 
sixty he must begin to count again. Numbered pre- 
scriptions are sold at this temple, and the would-be 




A COURT OF THE ANCESTOR TEMPLE.— CANTON 

purchaser selects a number at random from a vase, 
and the prescription corresponding with this number 
is then given him. The glory of the place is some 
wonderful carvings cut out of brick, and there is a 
collection of banners and standards that are carried 
in the procession when the idol is taken out. 

Our guide was merciful, and took us to only two of 



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the hundred and twenty-four of Canton's temples, — 
the one just described, and the Ancestor Temple, 
where they showed us a huge board closely covered 
with little wooden ancestral tablets. I suppose they 
dated that family back to Noah ! There was some 
good carving in the courtyard, where a well-dressed 




IN THE ANCESTOR TEMPLE-— CANTON 



lady was walking around with her child and nurse. 
The baby had on such a funny cap, with little fuzzy 
ears standing off on the side, just like the ears on a 
cat. I was smitten with longing to get a picture of 
the group : but the mother was so handsomely dressed 
that I feared she might feel insulted if I offered her 
money. I need have had no qualms ; for on showing 
her the camera and a coin, she shook her head, indi- 



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167 



eating that there must be two coins if the nurse and 
baby were included ! 

The Flowery Pagoda is nine stories high, and there 
are no flowers anywhere near it. It is only a tall white 
tower, at which we gazed from a courtyard at its 
base. 

The " City of the Dead " was even more strange 




OUR GUIDE IN THE CITY OF THE DEAD.— CANTON 



than the cemetery at Manila, — being neither more 
nor less than streets of tiny one-roomed houses, all 
open in front. The room was divided into two com- 
partments by a red curtain, which hides the huge 
black lacquer coffin. These houses rent for twenty- 
five dollars for the first three months ; after that the 
rate is reduced. Tea, cakes, fruit, and the favorite 
food of the dead, renewed each morning, are laid out 



168 



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ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 169 

on a table in front of the curtain, and a wash-stand 
with water and towels occupies one corner. Life- 
sized papier-mache servants are in readiness to wait 
on the spirit, and strings of paper prayers hang on the 
walls. We were shown one coffin that had been there 
for a hundred years. This little picture shows our 
guide on a street in this City of the Dead. 

I climbed a flight of steps to see the Water Clock. 
It is five hundred years old, and consists of several 
copper vessels placed one above another on platforms. 
A float with an indicator rises in the lowest vessel as 
the water flows in, and thus shows the time. 

The ascent to the Five-Storied Pagoda is very long 
and steep. We went part way up on foot, and were 
glad to have the sedan chairs take us the rest of the 
way. Arrived at the door, our guide said we would 
better go up to the Temple on the top floor for our 
luncheon, as the tea and cakes they had for sale up 
there were very good. There were four long flights 
to be climbed, and they were more difficult to mount 
than any I had ever seen before. They do not know 
how to build stairways in the East ; the steps are made 
so high and narrow. Our tea and cakes were served 
on a table at the foot of the altar, where we ate, with 
idols all around us. From the outside verandah the 
yamens of the Governor and Tartar General were 
pointed out. 

It is the streets that make Canton the most curious 
city in the world. They are so narrow that I was sure 
I could touch the walls on either side as I was carried 
along in my sedan chair ; but every little movement on 
my part drew such fierce scowls from my three bearers 
that I gave up the attempt to see how far I could reach, 



170 



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and spent the day wondering what would happen if 
our procession of sedan chairs were to meet another 
procession coming from the other direction. We did 




AT THE FOOT OF THE FIVE- STORIED PAGODA.— CANTON 



meet a wedding procession, gay with banners and a 
red bridal car, and in order to see it we left the chairs 
and mingled with the crowd, but, except for the bridal 
car, the procession was all on foot. 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 171 

In some of the streets the house roofs nearly met 
overhead, and everywhere the space above the street 
was filled with huge red and gold signs. I have a 
permanent twist in my neck, contracted in my efforts 
to take in all the strange sights. In one street there 
was nothing but clocks, — American clocks, too. 
Another street was given over to fruit, vegetables and 
nuts, in greatest variety, all clean and nicely arranged. 
Then came a region full of butchers' shops, where 
halved fowls and pigs, roasted, or bleached whole to 
an unearthly whiteness, hung mingled with dried 
" rats '•' and entrails of animals. There were heaps of 
dried fish, tubs of water filled with living fish from 
which slices had been cut, and barrels of curious little 
brown things, no doubt the dried cockroaches which 
they say the Chinese call " velly good ". 

We met many men with tubs of water hanging from 
a pole carried across the shoulder. I was so thankful 
I was not on foot ; and heaved a great sigh of thank- 
fulness when we left these horrors and came to the 
streets of the furniture makers, where there was an 
endless array of beautiful things made of ebony, 
carved, or inlaid with pearl. Crowds of people, every- 
where, flattened themselves against the wall as we 
came along. I grew very weary of the yellow faces 
staring so boldly and curiously, and began to under- 
stand what I had heard of the hatred of the Chinese 
for the foreigner. All day the men scowled at us 
menacingly ; the women seemed to take a great fancy 
to something on my hat, they pointed at it everywhere 
I went. I suppose I shall never know what it was 
that attracted them, — those black feathers, or the 
gilt buckle? 



172 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

I wish you could have gone with us into the little 
dark den where a patient creature was weaving won- 
derful silk brocade, and into the silk and linen stores, 
where our chairs stopped before a barred door in a 
blank stone wall. The wooden bars flew back as some 
one inside pulled the string of some curious mechan- 
ism, and we were conducted into a room, lighted from 
the ceiling, and adorned with potted plants. Around 
the walls were presses, from which the silks and em- 
broideries were taken, unwrapped from the white 
paper in which they were kept, and spread out on a 
table for our inspection. We found, however, that 
Hong Kong was a better place for shopping ; having 
a greater variety at more reasonable prices. As we 
emerged from the last store, a procession was seen 
approaching, and our guide informed us the Tartar 
General was coming. He had such a shabby retinue ! 
Half a dozen soldiers led the way ; then came a man 
on a forlorn old nag, followed by the great man him- 
self in a close sedan chair ; then more soldiers ; and 
such unmartial-looking creatures as those soldiers 
were I never saw. If it had not been for their uniforms 
I should have taken them for a rabble. This finished 
our day, and we went back to the Fengshaw. The 
next morning saw us in Hong Kong again, revelling in 
the lovely Botanical Garden on the hill, where the 
flower beds are full of the dear home flowers, pansies, 
geraniums, and candytuft. Thick-leaved rubber trees 
shaded the winding walks from which there were 
lovely views of the bay. Then followed a jinrickisha 
ride to Happy Valley, where there is a race course, 
golf links, and cricket grounds. The surrounding hill- 
sides are covered with cemeteries, — Parsee, Moham- 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 173 

medan, Roman Catholic, and Protestant, — rather a 
sad setting that for recreation grounds ! 

Hong Kong's flower market was a joy, — a riot of 
color and fragrance heaped on the pavement just 
below the corkscrew stairway that led up to our hotel 
door. I carried away an armful of mignonette, for 
which they asked only five cents ! Late in the after- 




THE FLOWER MARKET.— HONG KOXG 

noon we came on board the Malta. It has been grow- 
ing colder as we get farther north, and all the way it 
has been foggy. I was writing in the saloon, night 
before last, when a queer bumping and grating began, 
and the Malta ceased to move. We had reached the 
mouth of the Whangpoa or Woosung river, and our 
careful captain had anchored, on account of the thick 
fog. As it did not lift until the next afternoon, we 



174 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

did not move until then, when we came up the river 
with the tide, to anchor again about ten o'clock. The 
Malta does not go any further up the river, and we 
are to be taken off by another boat some time this 
morning. 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 175 



XV 

Foochow. 

AFTER waiting impatiently on the Malta, until 
the middle of the morning, a small steamer 
came down from Shanghai for us, and after a 
two hours' sail up the river we were landed at the 
quay. The wind was strong and bitterly cold, and 
the banks of the deserted river not attractive, so every 
one crowded into the cabin. Molly's brother met us 
at the quay and I was glad to leave him to put my 
baggage through the custom house, and hurry along 
to the warm comfortable quarters already engaged at 
a pleasant boarding house. It seemed to me that I had 
never felt the cold so much before, but that was to be 
expected, coming from the tropics. 

Shanghai was so raw and cold that we were all 
homesick, and almost willing to take the first steamer 
for America. The " folks " were all tired, and did not 
feel like going out in the cold unless they had to go 
shopping. They would not let me go alone, so I saw 
very little of Shanghai before coming down here. But 
as I am to return, there is time enough for that later. 

The evening we started for Foochow a gentle rain 
was falling, and it had been raining all day. As my 
jinrickisha man trotted along through the wet streets 
with me on the way to the river-boat, I was alternately 
filled with pleasure at the picturesque bits I caught as 
I went along and with fear lest I lose the rest of the 
party in the dark. The swinging paper lanterns car- 



176 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

ried by the coolies lent spots of light and color to the 
little puddles on the pavement, and turned my coolie's 
naked, swiftly-moving limbs to bronze. There were 
four in our party this time, — Mrs. and Miss Gray, 
Dr. Van, and myself. We had a good deal of trouble 
to find the right boat. The coolies, evidently thinking 
any boat would do, took us wrong twice; and at last, 
after much wandering back and forth on the river 
bank, we left our jinrickishas and followed Dr. Van 
and the bobbing paper lanterns across a bridge into 
the tiny cabin of the little Chinese steamer, half freight 
and half passenger boat. The staterooms were the 
size of pill boxes, and the berths so low that I raised 
several new lumps on my cranium. The dining table 
filled up most of the saloon, where an upholstered seat 
at one end was all the luxury the steamer afforded. 
Only coast steamers, or those devoted mainly to the 
carrying of freight, ply between Shanghai and Foo- 
chow, and they have no fixed date for their sailings. 
When he is ready to start, the captain sends out word 
to waiting passengers ; and even then he makes what 
changes he sees fit, no matter if the passengers are 
already on board. Mr. Brown spent a day and night 
on board before his boat even had its anchor up. We, 
however, were more fortunate, as we went on board 
in the evening and sailed some time during the night, 
proceeding at the rate of ten miles an hour in a calm 
sea. Shut up in the tiny cabin, with nothing to do 
but read, the three days seemed almost interminable 
to us. Still we were not exactly joyful to have the 
" boy " wake us at half past six on the fourth morn- 
ing, to be ready for an eight o'clock breakfast, just as 
the boat came to an anchor. After a while a sailboat 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 177 

came out from the village on the shore, with two 
ladies and a gentleman on board for whom we had 
brought mail. The ladies returned to the shore, but 
Mr. Hinman stayed to accompany us up to the city. 

Foochow is on the Min river, thirty miles from the 
sea, and the steamers stop when within ten miles of 
the city. The Government so fears the foreign war- 
ships that it is unwilling to deepen the river for the 
use of large vessels, and the ten miles to the city are 
accomplished by sail or rowboat. We went up in a 
steam launch, and I sat on the engine platform, 
bundled in wrappings, during the two hours' sail up 
the Chinese Rhine. On coming near the city we were 
so surrounded by a swarm of junks that one could 
scarcely see a foot of clear water ahead. There were 
hundreds, — no, thousands of them, all filled with 
women and children. Those near us looked very clean 
and attractive. The Foochow boat women have a dis- 
tinctive style of hair-dressing. The coil at the back 
ends in a cone tipped with a brass ornament, and the 
style of the hairpins is startling to a stranger. They 
wear three broad silver blades, shaped like dinner 
knives, standing far out on each side of the head. 
Many of the women wear an embroidered band around 
the hair, but this seemed to be confined to the elderly 
ladies. Huge silver hoops were the favorite fashion 
in ear-rings. 

Pushing its way slowly ahead, our boat at last 
worked its way up to the wharf. On landing, we were 
put into sedan chairs, and kind Dr. Hinman saw us all 
safely to our places of abode. An old college friend 
of mine is my hostess ; and with two lovely rooms all 
to myself, it has been great fun to unpack and arrange 



178 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

my tilings. This is such a pretty house with its wide 
verandahs, decorated with huge ferns in pots ; the 
rooms are large and lofty, and there is a lovely garden. 

I have a beautiful view from the four windows of 
my outside room. They are all in a row, and I love to 
stand there and watch the little girls of the Mission 
School play ball down below. They do not throw the 
ball back and forth as we do, but try to see how long 
they can keep it bounding up and down, whirling 
round and round on their little trousered legs, bounc- 
ing it as they go. Then, when I tire of the children, 
there is the interest of watching the travellers picking 
their way along the banks between the distant fields. 
There are no roads in China. 

Speaking of children, the little tots in the kinder- 
garten are the " cutest ", funniest little things in their 
gay flowered tunics and trousers, — and so fat they 
could hardly wabble through the games. 

I have been taken to visit a class of the large girls, 
to tell them something about how the deaf are taught. 
They were so bright and interested. The Chinese are 
just awakening to the knowledge that the deaf can be 
taught, and that their affliction is not the work of evil 
spirits. Among the millions of China's swarming 
population there must be a great many deaf people. 
Talk of a crowd ! You folks back home can have no 
idea of the people here. There's no getting away from 
them, everywhere one goes the very air seems full of 
eyes. And not only does the land teem with the living ; 
it is overrun with tokens of those who have lived. 
Graves cover the land everywhere, with their little 
brick walls and tile roofs. The brown paper money 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 179 

placed upon them for the use of the dead is kept con- 
stantly renewed. 

The dust in India irritated my throat badly and it 
has been troublesome ever since ; and as I am tired out, 
I am taking needed rest here with a Chinese Doctor, a 
graduate of the Women's Medical College of Philadel- 
phia, who is treating my throat. The bright yellow 
silk ornament she wears in her hair looks very cheer- 
ful, and she tells me interesting stories about her hos- 
pital. The Chinese Amah who makes my fire and 
brings up my breakfast is a dear old thing with a 
whole handful of silver blades in her shiny black 
tresses, and her bare feet thrust into embroidered 
slippers. She tries hard to talk to me, but I cannot 
make her understand even with the sign language. 
Perhaps you are wondering why the women and girls 
here wear trousers. They say it is to deceive evil 
spirits into the belief that they are men, so that when 
they swoop down to carry away a valuable man they 
may get a good-for-nothing woman instead. Nice for 
the women, isn't it? 

One of the great events of my stay in Foochow was 
the dinner party given me by my hostess. She had 
promised me a real Chinese dinner, and when the im- 
portant day came, bringing a number of the foreign 
ladies of Foochow, we gathered around the long table, 
set out in Chinese fashion without table cloth, napkins, 
knives, or forks. Each person had a large China spoon 
with a short handle and a pair of chop sticks. Course 
after course followed one another with bewildering 
rapidity ; each of them was to be eaten with that spoon 
or the chop sticks. Everything was brought on in 
little bowls, — the kind that tip over easily, — and 



180 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

as the contents were largely liquid you can imagine 
the laughter as we splashed the contents over the 
table, in our efforts to get hold of something, — any- 
thing, — with those two little wooden sticks, the 
spoon with short handle being almost as difficult to 
manage. The few who were expert in their use had 
their hands full in teaching the rest of us. One of the 
Chinese ladies translated the menu into English for 
me, afterward. Among other delicacies in the eighteen 
courses were lily pads, stewed mushrooms and birds'- 
nest soup. 

Molly and Frank have been on a trip inland, from 
which they returned a few days ago. They went up 
the river, taking their bamboo sedan chairs with them, 
as, unless one goes on foot, this is the only way to 
travel inland in China. They took their own cook 
along also, but of course they slept at the Chinese 
inns and had many novel experiences. Molly's brother 
was married at the United States Consulate last night. 
The Consul gave the bride away. The house was a 
bower of flowers ; there were pretty gowns, delicious 
refreshments, — everything that goes to make up a 
beautiful wedding " back home ". There was nothing 
Chinese about it, except that the bride and groom 
went away in sedan chairs, amidst a fusillade of fire 
crackers. 

The day set for our trip to the Kushan Monastery 
dawned dark and gloomy, but we started in the hope 
that it might clear up. Molly, her two little girls, and 
I in chairs, Frank, Elsie, Mr. and Mrs. Mae and an 
elderly Chinese gentleman on foot. This famous 
Monastery is on the Kushan Mountain, the pride of 
Foochow. It is several miles awav on the other side 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 181 

of the river. On reaching the river, our chairs were 
lashed to the roof of one boat, their bearers and the 
two men in charge of our luncheon were put inside, 
and the rest of us crowded into another boat, sitting 
wedged together on the floor of the tiny cabin, whose 
roof and walls were made of bamboo matting. Fans, 
and an idol with its votive flowers, decked the walls. 
Our oarsmen were women, three of them, who rowed 
with a long easy sweep. The river is so wide that it 
took them an hour and a half to reach the other side, 
when we were borne along single file on narrow ridges 
of land above wet rice fields, through one forlorn vil- 
lage after another, where, as I was being carried along, 
I looked through the open doors of the houses into 
dark comfortless rooms with the earth for a floor. The 
streets were paved with huge flat stones, broken and 
irregularly placed, slippery with mud and slime. My 
bearers had to pick their way very carefully. I was 
glad to begin the ascent of the mountain and get away 
from the horrible smell. Most of the way, the ascent 
is up a long stairway of stone slabs, twisting along in 
a gradual upward climb. We stopped many times, to 
let the bearers rest and to have tea. The priests 
offered tea at each of the many shrines that dotted 
the way. This mountain is over three thousand feet 
high, and the Monastery is a little more than half way 
up. We left our chairs there, and after watching the 
sacred carp in a fish pond fight for the food we threw 
out for them, we went on foot up a winding path to a 
beautiful glen where a little summer house was hidden 
away. Its upper story was a perfect copy of the deck 
of a boat with its cabin. Our luncheon was spread on 
deck, and we were in the midst of it when a light 



182 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

shower began, and our table had to be moved back 
under the eaves, amid much merriment. Luncheon 
over, we made our way back to the Monastery, to 
wander through its courts and peep into its places of 
worship, the largest of which was hung with tablets, 
and had its floor covered with kneeling stools for the 
three hundred yellow-robed disciples of Buddha who 
worship there. The Abbott received us in his study, 
and gave our two little girls oranges. They obeying 
their mother's instructions, responded by shaking 
hands with themselves in proper Chinese style, which 
delighted him exceedingly. Just as we came out of 
his room the black cloud that had been hovering over 
the top of the mountain broke into rain, so we had to 
hasten our departure. The rain fell more heavily every 
moment while we were descending, and by the time 
the boats were reached it was a deluge, which con- 
tinued until we were safely home. The three men 
who carried me all day asked only sixty cents for the 
day, twenty cents apiece. Molly, who was born in 
Foochow and understands the dialects, says that one 
of the bearers asked her if I could speak both English 
and American, thinking that a wonderful feat. Isn't 
that funny ! 

SHANGHAI AGAIN 
Dusk was just falling when our tender sailed away 
from the dock at Foochow, and we saw the last of the 
little band that had come down to see us off. The 
piercing cold wind on the river drove us into the 
shelter of the cabin. It was quite dark by the time 
the boat swung around to the gangway of the steamer. 
Our party had gathered strength numerically, and now 
included Frank, Molly, her sister Elsie, Buddie, his 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 



183 



two little sisters, and their Foochow amah, besides the 
two Grays and myself; and on board we found two 
elderly gentlemen from New York who were making 



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CHINESE BEGGARS 



a tour of the world. The steamer was the one on 
which I had come down, and we filled every inch of 
space in its five staterooms. Words fail me in 
describing the dullness of the voyage. Even those not 



184 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

actually sea-sick kept their berths, and the three little 
ones all had the whooping cough. They were very 
jolly about it, amusing themselves happily with their 
toys between paroxysms of coughing in which their 
father flew to their assistance, both mother and nurse 
being too ill to lift a head. The deck was wet, and 
crowded with freight and Chinese, so there was 
nothing for it but to stay in my stateroom or the 
saloon, where, three times a day, the Chinese steward 
cleared our things off the table to get ready for meals. 
On the third day the patient little engine broke down, 
the anchor was put out, and there we stayed for hours 
while it was being repaired. When at last it was 
started up again, the captain promised to land us at 
Shanghai at noon the next day ; but two hours later 
the anchor was dropped again, and we remained there 
all night, moving on once more in the morning, when 
it was announced that we would reach the wharf at 
Shanghai between four and five o'clock. The sick 
ones revived at the news, and we were all thrilled 
with excitement at the prospect of being released from 
our prison. Frank and Molly, being anxious to catch 
the boat for the north and proceed on their trip to 
Pekin that night, had their trunks brought up to the 
saloon from the hold, and went to work to repack. 
Meanwhile, the boat crawled up the river, and finally 
came to anchor at half past six. And then, instead of 
going up to the dock, it came to a stop in the middle 
of the river. We were much disgusted as we had a 
mountain of hand baggage, our trunks, the wedding 
cake in its huge tin box, and several carved tables, 
bought in Foochow, to be loaded into rowboats, as 
well as three little ones and ourselves, — and this 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 185 

just as it was getting dark! The decks swarmed with 
Chinese, pushing, jostling, and gesticulating wildly. 
I was nearly swept off my feet as I went down the 
swaying ladder to the boats, clinging to the guard 
rope. To add to my fright, the man who carried my 
hand baggage insisted on putting it into an empty 
boat, in direct disobedience to my gestures to put it 
into the boat with the Grays. I could do nothing with 
him, and was at last obliged to go with the Grays and 
leave my baggage to its fate. It was quite dark by 
the time our boat touched the wharf, where Molly and 
the rest of them were waiting to pull us up ; but where 
were the two gentlemen who had promised to see that 
the Gray's trunks and mine were brought up from the 
hold and landed. No one had seen or heard anything 
of them. We dared not leave the wharf for fear of 
missing them, and the men would not go and leave us 
three women there all alone. After a long wait in the 
dark and cold, Frank decided to call for a rowboat 
and go back to the steamer to see if he could find them. 
— Another wait. Then Molly heard his cheery whis- 
tle over the water. What a welcome we gave him 
when he landed with the four trunks. He said the 
two gentlemen had forgotten all about us, and had 
decided to remain on board for the night. Their con- 
sternation was great when they heard how we had 
waited for them. We made quite a procession when 
we finally got started. There was the carriage with 
Molly; Elsie, the children and their amah, four jin- 
rickishas with the rest of us, an additional jinrickisha 
with baggage, and a wheelbarrow with the four trunks. 
As the Grays and I had to go very slowly to keep with 
the wheelbarrow, the others soon left us far behind. 



186 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

You can imagine how welcome the light and warmth 
were when the boarding house was reached. 

Now I am here alone with strangers, as Molly, 
Frank, and the Grays left yesterday for Pekin. They 
are taking only two weeks for the journey, going and 
returning, with less than two days for the stay in 
Pekin. I am tired of so much travelling, and have 
cabled to Harry and Mary to ask if they can meet me 
at Nagasaki if I sail next week. In the meantime I am 
trying to get a new suit and hat. I think I have looked 
over every bit of " foreign " goods in Shanghai, and 
inspected every " foreign " hat. So far as I can dis- 
cover, there are exactly four ready-made wool suits in 
Shanghai. You should see me going out on a shop- 
ping expedition. After reading all the advertisements 
in the local paper and in the Shanghai guide book, I 
write out a list of the places I want to visit, and take 
it to the Chinese head clerk in the book store on the 
first floor of this house. He goes out in the street 
with me, and when, in answer to his call, a half dozen 
jinrickisha men rush up, he picks out the best-looking 
one in the lot, proceeds to instruct him, and then 
stands back, looking doubtful, for the coolies invari- 
ably say " yes ", whether they understand or not. I 
get in, and away I go. When I want to stop any- 
where I poke at my steed with my umbrella. Of 
course I do not go to any of the Chinese stores alone, 
— only to the French or English shops. They are not 
far from here. Shanghai has a French, German and 
English concession, as well as the native city ; and if 
your jinrickisha man does not happen to have a license 
for the French concession, and you want, as I did, to 
go to the steamship office, which is on its edge, it 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 187 

would be necessary for you to leave your jinrickisha 
and walk over. 

Shanghai, like Manila, comes as a surprise. It is 
such a fine well-built place. The Yangtse river flows 
through it, with the broad Bund curving along its 
banks. There are trees and grass at the water's edge ; 
and the foreign steamers, lying at anchor along the 
middle of the stream, make me think of a water 
parade, they are so decked with flags and streamers. 

The weather has become more spring-like than it 
was when I was here before. It is quite like our April, 
but the Chinese are still wearing the quilted robes that 
make them look like so many bundles of bedding. I 
like to watch the wheelbarrows, with their loads of 
people. The coolies who push them have such won- 
derful dexterity. At first I feared lest they tip over, 
but now I am more resigned, knowing that the gar- 
ments of the occupants are too thickly wadded to 
allow them to be hurt. These wheelbarrows are like 
nothing else on earth ! People sit on shelves on either 
side of a single large wheel, and miraculously keep 
their equilibrium as they are pushed tip-tilting along! 

I cannot become accustomed to the sight of a swarm 
of coolies acting as dray horses, pushing, pulling and 
tugging to move huge blocks of stone and other heavy 
loads through the streets. It is all man-labor here. 
The big Sikh policemen who stand in the road and 
regulate traffic in the English city have a great fascina- 
tion for me. I nearly twist my head off every time I 
pass one, trying to see how his long whiskers are 
twisted up into his back hair. 



At last I have succeeded in getting some checked 



188 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

woolen goods for my suit, and the boarding house 
people sent for a Chinese tailor for me. He came 
promptly, an intelligent-looking creature with long 
genteel finger nails, and gave me a bad half hour, for 
it was quite impossible to tell how much he under- 
stood. I showed him pictures in the fashion book, 
showed him how my gowns were made, gave him my 
jacket to use as a pattern, and am hoping for the best. 
Elsie, who keeps house for her brother, a professor 
at Nan Yang College, the non-sectarian Chinese col- 
lege in the country six miles from Shanghai, invited 
me out there to take luncheon and see the play for the 
benefit of the Famine Fund. The people here said that 
that was too far for a jinrickisha man and that I must 
have a carriage, so I had them engage a coupe. 
When the time to start came, every one in the house 
at the time came down to see me off, and all exclaimed 
at the miserable-looking horse, insisting he would die 
before we had gone half way. The interpreter was in- 
structed to tell the driver he must change it for a 
better one. He insisted that it was the best he had. 
They argued for a long while, till finally he agreed to 
change the horse ; and to save time it was arranged 
that I should go along and sit in the carriage while the 
transfer was made, the livery being only three squares 
away. So in I got, and my wily coachman drove away 
and up to the stable, where, instead of changing the 
horse, he turned around and started for Nan Yang. 
As I knew it would be useless to remonstrate, I held 
my peace and waited to see what happened. The 
brute, however, developed a surprising speed and en- 
durance, so I settled down to enjoy the ride. 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 189 

You never saw anything as crooked as these 
Chinese streets. The Chinese say the evil spirits 
always fly straight, and if they bump into walls they 
will get frightened and leave the city. The Bund and 
Nanking Road are the only wide streets with any pre- 
tense of straightness that I have seen yet, and they do 
not keep it up far. But Shanghai's crooked streets 
soon gave way to country roads. Out in the country 
the trees were beginning to bud, and vegetation to 
break into spring glory ; but the air was cold and raw, 
and the little brick tombs with their high pitched 
roofs, which cover so much of the ground, give a de- 
pressing aspect to the landscape. I was glad when we 
turned into the gateway of the college grounds. Bud 
and his sisters were as interesting as ever, and Elsie 
even more attractive. The hours sped all too fast, 
till the time came to go over to the Li Hung Chang 
Memorial Temple to see the play. Quite a little party 
of us " foreigners ", together with the Chinese 
students, made up the audience. The actors, who 
were also students, wore the foreign clothes. There 
was no scenery. The students seemed to enjoy the 
play very much, but I could not make out its plot, — 
the play bill being in Chinese, — and those around 
me to whom I applied were no better off. Elsie under- 
stands Chinese, but she was not able to come. As I 
went out, I stopped for a good look at the life-size 
bronze statue of Li Hung Chang, the first statue ever 
erected to any Chinaman. 

The tailor has brought home some of my things. 
The skirts look quite nice, but the shirt-waist is a sight 
to behold, its yoke and collar are so funny. However, 



190 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

if it is difficult to get clothes here, it is in no way diffi- 
cult to get them laundered. Think of having six 
shirtwaists beautifully done up for ten cents ! 

On Board the Mongolia. 

Well, here I am on my way to Nagasaki. The 
cable from Mary come in time for me to secure a state- 
room on this boat, — a lovely one too, on the upper 
deck, — a corner room Avith port holes on each side, 
like a Avatch tower. It is steam-heated and very com- 
fortable. For roommate, I have a young girl from 
Formosa who is on her way in charge of her brother 
to a boarding school in England. 

How it did rain the day I left Shanghai ! The tender 
sailed at three o'clock, and of course I had all packed 
up early. But the tailor did not come with my things 
until the last minute. The men were already waiting 
to carry my trunks down. Mr. Evans and my dear 
friend Jean, who had just arrived from Foochow, went 
down to the dock with me, where we found Elsie, her 
brother, and his bride, who had driven six miles in the 
rain. They thought it very forlorn for me to be going- 
all alone, and among them they hunted up some half 
dozen people who all promised to help me. The sun 
came out just at the last moment, so, as the tender 
steamed away, I could look back on them standing in 
the sunset light, its glory like a benediction on their 
heads. Later, I found some old friends from far-away 
Gloversville on the steamer. 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 191 



XVI 

Nagasaki, Japan. 

AT last I am in Japan, the land that has been the 
object of my dreams for so long, and it is even 
more fascinating than I had expected to find it. 
I am hardly willing to eat or sleep, I am so anxious to 
see everything, even to all the little knickknacks in the 
shops. The very air fills me with vivid joy of life, 
and it is so delightful to be with Harry and Mary. 
They have put their fifteen years in the country to the 
best advantage. They know everything about it, — 
its language, customs and manufactures, cities and by- 
ways. And they are never too busy to answer ques- 
tions. 

It was a glorious morning when the Mongolia sailed 
up Nagasaki's narrow winding harbor to anchor in 
sight of the town. The ship was immediately sur- 
rounded by a swarm of small boats, and the decks 
filled with curio dealers, hotel runners and men fixing 
the rope ladders from the coaling boats. The Mon- 
golia was to take on coal before proceeding to Kobe. 
The coaling is done by girls, who line upon the ladder 
and pass baskets from hand to hand with most won- 
derful rapidity. They put in nearly four hundred tons 
an hour it is said. The decks were thronged with 
eager Japanese, all bent on ensnaring the tourists' 
money. Here a couple of hotel runners were kow- 
towing to an old lady, who, unused to Japanese po- 
liteness, looked scared half out of her wits. A little 



192 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

further on, a different kind of deportment was shown 
by, — I am sorry to say it, — a fair young country- 
woman of mine. One of the Japanese who had come 
over the ship's side to arrange a rope ladder for a coal- 
ing boat was rude to her, and she slapped him in the 
face. I had just turned away from this scene, when I 
caught sight of Harry and Mary in a boat below. How 
good it was to go off the steamer into real Spring, the 
air was so soft and mild and such a contrast to Shang- 
hai. We climbed hills and turned corners in the 
quaintest narrow streets, where each bright-eyed little 
native we met exchanged a series of most profound 
bows with Mary, while I stood by wide-eyed. Finally, 
in turning another corner, we came plump on a real 
white New England house, all alone among its brown 
foreign neighbors. This was where we were to board 
with an American. The drawing room is full of treas- 
ures in carved furniture, bronzes and porcelains. My 
bedroom is gained by an outside gallery, where there 
is a fine view of the quaint little houses clustered on 
the hillside and in the valley below, with a glimpse of 
distant blue water, and all around, as background to 
the picture, are hills, and again more hills. Nagasaki 
is beautifully situated. I was rushing for my kodak, 
when Mary stopped me by saying it was against the 
law to take photographs. What a shame, when the 
place is so picturesque ! Its harbor is reputed to be 
one of the prettiest in the East. The city has a hetero- 
geneous population. Mary and I counted ten nation- 
alities besides the Japanese ; there were Russian, Po- 
lish, Dutch, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, Norwegian, 
French, English and American. 

The streets are very clean, and well kept, with good 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 193 

hard roads in the level part of the city ; those that wind 
in terraces up the hill sides are many of them paved 
with stone slabs, and each terrace is carefully banked 
with stone work. It is simply fascinating- to ride 
through the streets and watch the life there, — little 
boys and girls running about at play, with babies al- 
most as big as themselves strapped on their backs. 
Sometimes baby has a dolly on its back, and the tier of 
little heads, rising one behind another, is too amusing ! 
Then there are workmen with the insignia of their 
trade stamped on the backs of their blue tunics, and 
flocks of school girls and boys. These school girls, 
with their rosy cheeks, bright black eyes and shining 
hair, are very pretty. They wear their hair very much 
as our girls at home do, — in a pompadour and braid, 
tied with ribbon. One can always tell the Japanese 
school boys and girls by their dress. The boys all 
wear a sort of divided skirt, a cloth cap with a visor, 
and the Japanese geta, or wooden shoes with no stock- 
ings. The girls wear a pleated skirt, red or purple, 
and either foreign shoes and stockings or the Japanese 
low white stocking and wooden clogs. They look 
very fresh and sweet as they trot gaily along, usually 
a whole flock of them together. Harry and Mary have 
a little rest from my questions when we ride out, for 
we are in separate jinrickishas, and, as we are obliged 
by law to keep in single file, I cannot speak to them 
without bringing our whole procession to a halt. 
Whether from accident or design I do not know, but 
it is always Mary that heads our procession, then 
comes myself and Harry brings up in the rear. I can 
admire the pretty color of Mary's back hair, and, by 
dint of much squirming, get far enough around to take 



194 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

in Harry's ever-serene expression ; bnt as for compan- 
ionship, I must resign myself to jog along, seeing 
everything I possibly can. Oh, for a dozen eyes ! 

Japanese jinrickishas are the most attractive I have 
seen anywhere. They are all so new and fresh-look- 
ing, and have nice warm rugs, as the law requires. 
The men also look neat in their dark blue tunics and 
the long tight-fitting blue trousers that meet the blue 
tabi at the ankle. The long sleeves of the tunic come 
down over the hand, protecting the wearer's hands 
from sunburn. The slim, dark blue figures are topped 
by a bowl-like hat, held on the head by a wire frame- 
Avork. These jinrickisha men are invariably polite and 
obliging. They always wait to see that one is com- 
fortably seated and snugly tucked in before starting 
off, and when one leaves the jinrickisha, they take care 
of the wraps and parcels. 

My first long jinrickisha ride was to Moji, ten miles 
away on the gulf of Obama, along muddy rice fields 
and beside thickets of graceful bamboo, with lovely 
distant views of Nagasaki and its harbor. Every step 
of the way was full of interest. I peeped into the 
quaint little houses we passed, made love to the 
women and children, gazed with interest on the ped- 
dler loaded with gaily colored glass lamps, remember- 
ing that one of the first things Harry and Mary did, on 
reaching Japan fifteen years ago, was to write me to 
buy and send them some lamps. Electric lighting is 
now common all over the country. 

Half way to Moji our jinrickisha men came to a halt 
at the Tea-house at Tajami. While our men were 
resting, I had my first experience of Japanese tea. "We 
strolled into a pretty arbor, where a bright-faced girl 



ROUND THE WORLD IN S1LEXXE 195 

brought us a little tray, with tiny bowls of the clear 
greenish liquid, and little paper-like rice cakes. Mary 
instructed me in the proper etiquette. Xo money 
should be offered, as that would be insulting, but some 
small change may be tucked under the tray. In for- 
mer days this was always wrapped in a piece of paper, 
but etiquette is not so strict now. At Moji we had 
more tea, and walked down to the end of the long 
stone pier. Then we came back again to Nagasaki. 

The hill sides back of this house are covered with 
graves. From July 13th to loth, when the spirits of 
the dead are supposed to return to earth, the graves 
are lighted up with lanterns. The little twinkling 
lights all over the hills must look very pretty. These 
hills are also the scenes of great kite-flying contests in 
the spring, when men and boys of all ages try to cut 
down each others' kites with strings coated with pow- 
dered glass. 

I am to go with Harry and Mary to their home at 
Kagoshima, a three days' journey by train, small 
steamer, and, best of all a drive of over seventy miles 
in a native stage, all through a most beautiful country, 
where foreigners are seldom seen. The folks here tell 
me I am very fortunate. 

61 Kasuga Clio, Kagoshima. 
We reached here about eight o'clock last night. I 
enjoyed the trip hugely. We did not come by the 
most direct route, and broke the journey by spending 
Sunday at Kumanoto. It was raining when we left 
the boarding house at Nagasaki, and as I am so tall I 
cannot see anything when the hood of the jinrickisha is 
up except the water-proofed back and rapidly moving 



196 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

legs of my jinrickisha man, who looks like a roll of 
matting" out walking, as Japanese raincoats are made 
of straw, just like a strip of matting fringed out. One 
of these strips goes around the waist, another around 
the neck, and there he is ! To watch this bundle mov- 
ing was amusement enough. Finally it came to a stop, 
and put the handles of the big baby-carriage on the 
ground. I was taken by surprise, and slid down and 
out, to find myself in front of the Kyushu Railway 
Station. The few Japanese in the waiting-room looked 
at us in amazement, and no wonder, — we had such 
an assortment of bundles, bags and boxes, — over 
twenty for the four of us. I wondered how we were 
going to get them all on board. I had not learned 
what travelling with Harry meant. Our belongings 
miraculously appeared exactly when and where they 
should ; there was never any fuss or flurry ; the nec- 
essary jinrickishas, or boats, or whatever it was that 
was needed, sprang up around us, and in the midst 
moved Harry, — serene, and blandly smiling. 

The train came, and our second-class car was, 1 
found, like the cars at home, except that the seats run 
lengthwise, and we w r ere the only foreigners. As far 
as Tosu Junction, where we changed cars, the route 
lay through most beautiful scenery, much of it along 
Omura Bay, which is famous for its beauty. On leav- 
ing the bay we sped through numerous pretty valleys 
where the land was terraced all the way up, each ter- 
race being banked with neat stonework, and utilized 
as a rice or barley field. Some of the fields were of 
scarcely any size at all, and all of them were of irreg- 
ular shapes. Harry said there was not one square field 
in all Japan. 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 197 

When our lunch basket was opened, the train boy 
brought us hot tea. That boy was a marvel ; he 
watched over the comfort of every one in the car, 
opened and closed windows, adjusted the blinds, 
tucked rugs around the people, and warned them when 
to be ready to get off. 

It was intensely amusing to watch the people come 
into the car, take off the clogs or foreign shoes they 
wore, and climb up on the seats with their feet tucked 
up under them. Several of the women opened large 
bordered handkerchiefs, and holding them delicately by 
one corner in front of their faces, sat thus for hours. 
This, and the long rows of shoes or clogs along the 
floor, were irresistibly funny to me. The women all 
wore the Japanese dress, but the men and boys were 
divided in their allegiance. 

When we changed cars, the boy opened the window 
and passed the luggage out to a red-capped porter, who 
carried it around to the right train and helped the boy 
there to arrange it in the car. At five o'clock we 
finished our first day's journey. We had reached 
Kumanoto, where I was to have my first experience of 
a Japanese inn. I was all excitement, and, as my 
jinrickisha man trotted along, watched eagerly for the 
house. It was not at all as I had expected. We 
turned in at a gate in a high board fence, and all three 
jinrickishas drew up in line at the steps before an open 
door. Immediately a trio of bright-eyed maidens ap- 
peared, bowing to the floor, and presenting slippers. 
Down on the steps sat Harry and Mary. Wondering 
what was to happen next I bestowed myself beside 
them, and was amazed and horrified to have my jin- 
rickisha man begin to unbotton my shoes. On look- 



198 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

ing around and finding the others were undergoing 
the same process, and taking it as a matter of course, 
I tried to act as if I had been brought up to that 
kind of thing. I had a great time trying to shuffle 
along on those slippers, which were nothing but 
sole and toe. In most ungraceful fashion I crawled 
up the break-neck stairs, — they do not know how 
to build stairs here any better than in India, — 
and, reaching a little window-seat in the room to 
which we were conducted, I sank down on it, feeling 
like an elephant. Mary, coming in, exclaimed " you 
are sitting on the mantlepiece ! " There was not a sign 
of furniture in the two rooms they gave us, except flat 
silk cushions and a beautiful bronze brazier. They 
made haste to bring all the foreign chairs in the house 
up for us, but as they were all of the high straight- 
backed variety, I preferred to remain on the " mantel 
piece ". The walls were formed of sliding screens of 
white paper, and there was a little gallery around out- 
side. We were hardly in the room before a maid ap- 
peared on her knees with a tray with tea. She came 
into the room on her knees, pushing the tray on be- 
fore. 

She was followed by another girl, with a tray con- 
taining a beautiful lacquer dish of marshmallows. 
This inn advertised " European food " and they brought 
us a dinner of steak, roast sweet potatoes, bean salad, 
with slices of ham, and rice served from a new wooden 
tub. We had our own bread, and Harry made ex- 
cellent coffee with a shiny new coffee pot he had 
bought in Nagasaki. He had a can of ground coffee, 
and heated the water on the brazier, where there were 
four little supports just large enough to hold the kettle 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 



199 



over the bed of live coals. The dinner was served on 
trays, one for each person. These trays had little 




feet, a few inches long, and were placed on the floor. 
I found it in no way easy to kneel, or rather sit, for 



200 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILEXXE 

I could not kneel in proper Japanese style, beside that 
tray and eat. The Japanese maid who presided over 
the rice tub had great fun over my awkwardness with 
my knees, but was kind enough to commend my dex- 
terity with the chop sticks. After the dinner had been 
removed, the Japanese showed us how to make paper 
hair strings, a bunch of which, in black and white, 
hung from the knob on one side of my tiny looking- 
glass. She took a piece of white paper, the same as that 
from which the wall screens were made, — the folks 
called it " panes of window glass " — and twisted it 
up into a long thin cord, which I found almost unbreak- 
able. The black ones are painted with black lacquer 
paint. Then she did up Mary's hair in a butterfly 
bow with only the cord to hold it, not a single hairpin. 
We were now ready for bed, and several more 
maidens appeared with quilts. As we were foreigners 
we were allowed three each. Mary had brought sheets 
and pillows ; for covering there was another thick 
Japanese quilt. This made a very comfortable bed, as 
the floors are covered with thick soft mats, or rather 
sections of matting, bound on the edges, and fitted 
tightly together like an inlaid floor. This is why one 
must not wear shoes in the house. The Japanese floor 
is really a bed and no one would think of walking on 
a bed with shoes on. Shoes are left on a rack at the 
outside door. It will be some time before I get used 
to leaving my treasured shoes outside, or to putting 
them on out there the last thing before going any- 
where. Then, too, it takes a great deal of sang- 
froid to wash face and hands and clean one's teeth at 
the sink in the courtyard. Mary took pity on me, and 



ROUND THE WORLD IX SILENCE 201 

whenever it was possible, prevailed on the inn people 
to bring water up to the room for me. 

Kumanto has a beautiful park, which was thronged 
with people the afternoon we were there ; and it was 
delightful to see how frankly they were enjoying them- 
selves. Children were rolling over and over on the 
grassy hillocks, with fathers and mothers helping- and 
encouraging; and there was a constant procession of 
old and young trotting back and forth on the stepping- 
stones in the brook, — they all seemed to think that 
the best fun of all. 

A Japanese gentleman came to call on us in the 
evening. He was in full European array, and it was 
amusing to see stockinged feet in company with broad- 
cloth and immaculate linen, for of course he had to 
leave his shoes at the door. We were all sitting 
around on the floor when he came, and when he was 
seated, the ceremony of greeting began. He made a 
profound bow which we returned. He made a second 
bow and we, in turn, acknowledged the courtesy in 
concert. This was repeated again and again, until the 
proper respect had been paid him ; and then, at last, 
tea and conversation ensued. 

We were up at five o'clock on Monday, and, after a 
long ride, reached the station in time for the 5.-15 train. 
We changed at Misumi to a small steamer, and, after 
an uneventful and not very attractive sail of five hours, 
landed at Komenoku, where the Japanese at the land- 
ing were overheard discussing the amazing amount of 
luggage we had with us. After luncheon at the inn, 
Harry set to work to make the hard wooden seats of 
the basha, the Japanese stage coach, comfortable with 
rugs, pillows and air cushions. These little wagons. 



202 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

which are under government management, count six 
as the regular number of passengers, so Harry had to 
engage two, one for us and one for our baggage, so 
that we could have ours to ourselves. Even then we 
were wedged in so closely that whenever one of us 
wanted to change position, all the rest had to change 
also. We were six hours covering thirty miles, as the 
road was all on the up grade. The road was very fine, 
with substantial stone bridges over every little brook, 
and every bank propped with stone-work. Immense 
defiles, over two hundred feet deep, had been cut from 
the hills to make room for the road — an immense 
amount of labor, as the work is all done by hand. 
Tourists are very rare in these parts, and all the little 
brown people along the way showed great interest in 
us. Tiny boys on the road took off their caps, mothers 
turned their babies around to see the strange sight, old 
people, going home hand in hand from their day's 
work in the fields, called out a cheerful greeting. It 
grew dark, and still we drove on and on, until at last, 
at ten o'clock we came to Sendai, and dragged our 
stiff limbs across a lantern-lighted court to our rooms 
in the inn, — beautiful rooms, with the woodwork all 
hand rubbed to satin smoothness, handsome rugs and 
fine bronzes. And this country inn owns a white silk 
hand-painted mosquito net that cost a hundred dollars. 
Our provision basket not having caught up with us, 
we had to have a real Japanese dinner. Menu: stewed 
sea-weed, broiled fish, sliced raw fish, beef, rice, tea 
and sponge cakes, which were delicious. The whole 
of the hotel staff turned out to see us off the next 
morning, after our pile of luggage had been augmented 
by several large boxes of Japanese candy which the 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 203 

host had given us. The scenery was beautiful all the 
way. The road, elevated above rice and barley fields, 
meandered through one long narrow valley after 
another, and all along the road were huge bushes 
covered with tiny white roses, and the hillsides flamed 
with the crimson of the wild azalea and the red of the 
Japanese maple. We covered forty miles during the 
day, and reached here about eight o'clock. Just out- 
side the city our driver, who had been scowling all day, 
demanded twice the proper fare, and, when Harry 
rebuked him, got " ugly " and unharnessed both the 
horses, — the one drawing our basha and the one 
following with the luggage. He reckoned without his 
host though ; for without wasting any words Harry 
called the nearest policeman, and as it is against the 
law to ask for more than the fixed fare, the driver 
emerged from his interview with the arm of the law 
in chastened mood, harnessed his horses again, and 
brought us here without any more fuss. He was re- 
quired to appear at the Police Court the next day. 
The Japanese evidently make their laws for use and 
not for ornament. 

As we drove up to the gate, dancing paper lanterns 
on the road turned out to be little Laura and her faith- 
ful O'Hara San watching for us. This is a charming 
spot. The house is really a Japanese house, but they 
improved it till it has all the advantages of the Japanese 
and foreign ideas, and the garden is so pretty. 

It is wonderful what charm a Japanese gardener can 
give to what would be with us only a little yard. 
Where we should see no possibilities beyond a flower 
bed or two, a few trees and a grass plot, they make a 
veritable little Eden with shrubs, winding paths, stone 



204 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

lanterns, rockeries, and perhaps a tiny lake. The air 
is heavy with the scent of orange blossoms, and from 
the piazza one can look over the tree tops and see 
looming up against the distant blue of the sky the 
huge cone of the volcanic mountain Kaimondake. 

The week here has been very delightful. Kagoshima 
is the most southern city in Japan, and the largest 




HARRY, LAURA AND O'HARA SAN AT THE GARDEN GATE 

in the province of Satsuma. It is in this city that the 
beautiful Satsuma ware is made. We made a visit 
to the factory one day. In the show room our cards, 
with the request that we be allowed to visit the work- 
shops, were given to the young gentleman who ap- 
peared. He readily consented, and we were shown 
into a room where about a dozen men were at work, 
some turning cups on the potter's wheel, others, with 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 205 

small sharp instruments, making the delicate open- 
work in incense burners.. One man was making in- 
cense boxes in the shape of little fat images of Daruma, 
the Buddhist saint who sat his legs off. Upstairs 
men were sitting on the floor, with their paints on low 
tables before them, engaged in painting cups and 
plates. The whole factory was light and clean, and a 
fit place for the dainty ware. The men worked com- 
fortably, with no clattering machinery, no rush or fret. 
After seeing everything, even to the stock of cream- 
white powdered clay, I was given plenty of time to 
deliberate over my choice of a souvenir among the 
pretty things spread out on a table in an upper room 
with a glorious view from its windows of mountain and 
sparkling blue sea. 

Our waiting jinrickishas then carried us to a stairway 
at the foot of a hill, and on climbing up the long flight 
of stone steps, which are nearly worn out of all resem- 
blance to steps by the feet of countless pilgrims, we 
came to the cemetery where Saigo, the leader of the 
Satsuma Rebellion in 1877, lies with his band of fol- 
lowers. Near the top of the stairway there is a gigan- 
tic wooden statue of him with a rabbit-net in his belt 
and his hunting dog at his side. A band of a hundred 
school boys from the country, thirty miles away, were 
there with their masters, and formed into line to march 
home while we were looking at the tombs. No doubt 
it will be long before those boys forget their visit to the 
hero's grave. 

Mary and I had a delightful jinrickisha ride out to 
Iso, in the suburbs, where the wealthy Japanese 
have their summer villas, and where the better class of 
tea houses are to be found. We passed the summer 



206 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

home of the present prince of Satsuma, and the little 
villa built for the boy prince when he was born. The 
ride along the bay is especially beautiful. Sakura-jima 
(Cherry Island) with its mountain being in plain view, 
and at a curve in the road there are a picturesque lean- 
ing pine and a stone lantern. The pine is called the 
Loo Choo pine, because in the olden days, when Loo 
Choo was tributary to Satsuma, the boats from Loo 
Choo were not allowed to go further up the bay than 
the pine. 

Another day we spent some delightful hours turning 
over the contents of a silk store. There were silks for 
weddings and silks for funerals, and gorgeous silks, 
threaded and wrought with gold, for obi, dainty crepes 
for the lady's inside robe and for babies' use, — as 
Japanese babies wear silks and crepes, and are quaint 
little miniatures of father and mother. Passing along 
a street in the city, we stopped to watch a man making 
candles from wax extracted from the nuts of the wax 
tree. He was sitting on the floor with two large ves- 
sels of dark brown liquid before him, in one hand he 
held a bunch of thin round sticks on which the paper 
wicks for the candles had already been fastened. 
These he twirled around in one of the vessels, keeping 
it full by ladling more wax in all the time with the 
other hand. The wax adhered to the wicks and he 
kept them in motion until the candles were thick 
enough. Then he took them out to smooth and shape 
them by hand. 

Across the street from the candle maker was a man 
at work on Japanese umbrellas, he had several frames 
partly made. These umbrellas are all made of bam- 
boo and oiled paper. At another place they were mak- 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 207 

ing mats for floors. They call them tatami, and make 
them of several thicknesses of coarse matting quilted 
with linen thread. The top cover is of fine grass or 
reed, grown especially for this sort of matting. They 
are bound with coarse black linen and are all the same 
size, three inches thick, three feet wide, six feet three 
inches long. This is how the Japanese can always tell 
the size of a room by counting the mats on the floor. 

A little further on was a silk factory. These places 
are all open in front, and I stopped to watch the thread, 
— almost as delicate as a cobweb, — being reeled up, 
and marvelled that it did not break. Women were 
at work weaving silk of different grades, and presently 
we were invited into the house to look at some of it ; 
but as we had no slippers with us we preferred to sit 
on the piazza floor, around by the garden, and the lady 
of the house brought out trays of tea, sweetmeats, 
raisins and packages of silks and embroideries. 



208 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 



XVII 

Bluff Hotel, Yokohama. 

WE overslept, the last morning of our stay in 
Kagoshima, and had a great scramble to 
catch the train. O'Hara San, O'Hide San, 
the jinrickisha man, Laura, Harry, Mary and I were 
all strung out along the road, running along as hard 
as Ave could pelt, loaded wth our numerous boxes, bags 
and bundles. Fortune favored us, and we got there 
in time. The clock was just striking six when our 
train moved. Dear little Laura smiled sweetly and 
bravely at. us until the train bore us out of sight. 

The train ride of three hours was beautiful, along the 
curving shore of the bay and then inland to Yoshimatu, 
the end of the line. It began to rain just as we left 
the train. There was only one basha at the station, 
and into that we crowded, with all our belongings, 
with all the curtains down, except the one at the end, 
to keep out the rain. However, this one window gave 
such a vista of beauty that we could not bear to have 
so much shut out, and so, rain or no rain, we put up 
all the others. At Kakuto we changed to another 
basha, and had a hasty luncheon while it was being- 
made ready. Once on the way again, the road began 
to ascend, winding up along the side of the mountain. 
The distant views below were glorious, and must be 
something wonderful when the skies are clear and the 
distant hills free from the veil of mist. The gloom of 
the wet landscape was brightened by the scarlet and 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 209 

maroon of the wild azalea, and the young leaves of 
the camphor added another touch of red. When we 
were near the top of the mountain we had to change 
bashas again, stepping from one to another across a 
sea of mud, the rain pouring meanwhile. It was 
even more beautiful coming down the other side of 
the mountain, the road zigzagging from one lovely 
valley to another. Finally we reached level ground, 
and at the same time the rain came to an end. At 
the Nabe-ya Inn, at Hitayoshi, they gave us rooms 
opening on a gallery over the river, and hastened to 
impress us with their foreign splendor by bringing up 
several chairs and a round table, which they set up 
with great pride. The first thing on the program on 
arriving at a Japanese inn is a hot bath. I took one 
that first night at Kumanoto. Mary is so thoughtful 
of me. She stays with me all the time, thinking, I 
suppose, that I might be frightened at being left alone 
in these inns with their paper walls. That night she 
went down with me to the bath room, which was in a 
little house in the courtyard, and stayed near to keep 
the Japanese away. This time, when the woman in 
charge of the inn asked Mary if " her daughter " 
wanted a bath, I said " Not to-day, thank you ". Mary 
told her that " her daughter " had a cold. There were 
several young maids who made a great many errands 
to the room ; and, as they evidently wanted to get 
acquainted, I showed them pictures in the magazine 
I was reading while Harry and Mary were taking their 
bath. When they came back, looking parboiled, we 
had supper, — eating on the floor, as usual, in spite of 
our fine " foreign " table, as we all voted it a bother to 
get up to it. The Japanese maids then made up our 



210 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 



beds, and hung around, waiting to see how my clothes 
came off; but I frustrated their hopes by shutting off 
the electric light. 

We were all up early in the morning, ready for 
departure by eight o'clock. On going down to our 
boat, which was waiting just below our gallery, we 
found Harry had already been at work on it, and made 




OUR BOAT ON THE KUMAGAWA RIVER 



it a perfect nest of rugs and cushions. We were to 
sit on the floor, and there were high board sides to keep 
the water from drenching us as we went through the 
rapids Our baggage was stowed away and covered, 
to keep it from getting wet. A small boy took his 
place at the one oar at the stern and a man with a 
yellow parasol and a pole made himself comfortable 
in the bow. We snuggled down in our rugs, and my 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 



211 



never-to-be-forgotten day on the Kumagawa river be- 
gan. Few tourists take this trip, as it is so far off the 
beaten tracks. 




~ / 



hft 



ON THE KUMAGAWA RIVER 



The day was perfect, and the scenery for the whole 
forty miles one long delight, — the river curving be- 
tween high hills, pretty villages here and there, culti- 



212 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

vation everywhere. We met a good many boats com- 
ing up, dragged by scores of men both in the water 
and on the bank, as the current is too strong for row- 
ing. Our boat was the only one going down. Shoot- 
ing the rapids was very exciting, a fresh set appearing 
every little while. Our boy pulled steadily at his oar ; 
but the man sitting under his yellow parasol, singing 




VIEW FROM THE SHRINE IN THE CAVE 

nonchalantly, made me indignant, because he let the 
small boy do all the hard work. Just then a mass of 
foaming water came in sight — down went the yel- 
low parasol and up came the man and the pole. His 
dexterity was wonderful. He knew exactly the right 
moment to put out his pole, and just the spot where it 
would be most effective. I changed my opinion of 
him. 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 213 

About noon, when it was getting hot, we came to 
the great cave, reached by climbing up the hill from 
the river. It is hung with stalactites, and there is a 
shrine on a platform cut out of the rock, high up inside. 

The boatman was unwilling to stop long enough to 
picnic in the shade on the bank, so we had to eat our 
lunch on the boat. Lighting the fire in the charcoal 
brazier, we made tea and toasted sausages as we floated 
along, holding umbrellas over each other to keep us 
from melting in the hot sun. The whole left bank of 
the river for a long way had been cut out and banked 
with stone for the new railway that was to be built ; 
all the work having been done by hand ! 

The end of the river trip came when we drew near 
the bank at Yatsushiro at four o'clock. A crowd of 
jinrickisha men came rushing along the bank to meet 
us ; but instead of coming to blows, when they saw 
there were not enough of us to go around, they drew 
lots among themselves with pieces of rope, to settle 
which of them should take us. A train ride of an hour 
finished the day, bringing us to Kumanoto, where we 
spent the night at the same inn in which we had 
stopped on the way down to Kagoshima. We were 
up early next morning and off for Moji, a train ride of 
more than five hours. At Moji we crossed the strait 
to Shimonoseki in a big steam ferry. Shimonoseki is 
on the main island, and the Sanyo line of Railway is 
more European than the Kyusho. There was also a 
change in the country and the people, the country 
being more densely populated and closely cultivated, 
and the people more urban. We had luncheon in a 
dining car that would hold eight at a pinch. Harry, 
who had been our cook all along, was delighted with 



214 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

the change ; but we voted him the better cook. Dur- 
ing the afternoon we rode through the beautiful 
scenery on the shore of the Inland Sea, till darkness 
fell, blotting out the lovely pictures. We were glad 
to leave the train when Miyajima station was reached 
at half past eight. A boy from the Mikado Hotel was 
waiting to meet us, a sail of fifteen minutes took us to 
the island where, as no jinrickishas are allowed and we 
did not want to walk over a mile in the dark, we em- 
barked again, — this time in a rowboat, — and were 
landed on a beach where several Japanese with paper 
lanterns were waiting to guide us through the woods 
to the little house that had been prepared for us. The 
two rooms had foreign furniture and I was so glad to 
see a real bed again. A laughing little dumpling of a 
maid brought us tea and hot water. I was delighted 
when I emerged in the morning to find that our little 
house was perched on the bank of a pretty little brook, 
surrounded by a fairy-land of woods. There were 
more dainty little houses near by, which, with the 
larger house where the meals were served, made up 
the Mikado Hotel. Art and Nature combined to make 
the place fascinating. There were fountains, tiny lakes 
with .gold fish, charming walks along the seashore or 
through the woods and tame deer and doves that came 
to eat from our hands. The Temple, which is a cele- 
brated one, is built on piles, and at high tide is sur- 
rounded by water. There are galleries and bridges 
all around it, and a most wonderful torii away out in 
the sea whose supports are made of the trunks of two 
immense trees. There are stone lanterns all along the 
beach, and Harry had them all lighted up one night, 
taking us out in a boat so that we could see from the 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 215 

water the effect of the myriad of little twinkling lights. 
The temple treasure-house has a gallery over six hun- 
dred feet long, hung with quaint old pictures; and on 
the hill, back of this, is a huge building called " the 
Hall of a Thousand Mats ". This is reputed to have 
been built from the wood of a single tree. Its roof is 
supported by pillars that are covered with wooden 
butter paddles, nailed up there by visitors for luck, 
and the effect is the strangest. Over in Maple Valley 
is another charming Japanese-foreign hotel, and all 
around are scattered fascinating curio shop, and stalls 
for the sale of cakes and sweetmeats. They looked so 
good, so exactly like our peppermints and other fa- 
miliar dainties, that I hailed them with joy and insisted 
on buying a supply, in spite of Mary's warning, only 
to throw them away when I got out of sight of the 
stall. I am sure I could never learn to like things 
made of bean paste. 

How sorry I was when the time came for us to leave 
the lovely island. The train for Kobe was so crowded 
that we had to sit wedged in for eight long hours. 
The route lay along the shore of the Inland Sea, but 
owing to the crowd, and to the fact that I had to sit 
with my back to the windows, I could hardly see any- 
thing outside, which was disappointing. The people 
around me were very interesting, though ; — Chinese 
merchants in silken robes and tasseled queues, Koreans 
in baggy white trousers, and Japanese of both sexes, 
old and young. On one side of me were a young father 
and mother, with a small baby of whom they were 
very proud ; and oh, how they did fuss over it ! On 
the other side was a lady in rich dark robes, who 
smoked a small silver pipe and, at intervals, powdered 



216 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

her face with the aid of a wee hand-glass. Nearby 
was a Japanese Christian, — a missionary to Korea, — 
on his way to Tokio to Conference, taking his lively 
three-year-old daughter along to visit her grandmother. 
Her antics kept her poor patient father on the jump all 
the time. 

It was nearly midnight before we reached the Toki- 
washa Inn at Kobe and got under our futons to dream 
of the day. We had an amusing time in the morning 
with the landlady, who knew no English, but thought 
she did. 

The milk for our breakfast was brought up in a 
pretty blue and white vase. They said it was a saki 
bottle. I admired it so much that I had them ask the 
landlady to let me buy it. She replied that if I would 
accept so trifling a thing she would like to present it 
to me. I am getting quite a collection of things from 
the inns. It is a custom in this quaint little country 
to tip the proprietor of the inn instead of the servants, 
and if he is satisfied with the amount he returns the 
courtesy by offering a parting gift. They gave us 
blue and white towels at Kumanoto, and large boxes 
of Japanese sweets at Sendai. The Mikado Hotel, 
being foreign, did not keep Japanese customs. 

Kobe, being a port, is quite a large city ; but instead 
of going sight-seeing we went to a photographer's 
where there was a fine collection of beautiful views, 
and transparencies. After spending a couple of hours 
very enjoyably there, we rode around, had luncheon 
at a little tea house on the hill, and took an afternoon 
train for Kyoto. The Nakamura Inn is so close to one 
of the temples as to seem a part of it. It is supposed 
to be a foreign hotel, and our rooms did have heavy 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 217 

old-fashioned furniture, but one of the beds had no 
springs and the other was made up top-side-down with 
pillows at the foot. Kyoto is renowned for its temples, 
but as my time was getting short, Harry planned for us 
to see only the few in which he thought we would be 
most interested, beginning with the Kitano Tenjiri, 
where sick people were rubbing bronze animals in 
the hope of being relieved from their pain. Worship- 
pers at the shrine pulled vigorously at the bell rope 
and clappd their hands, to call the attention of the god 
before beginning to pray. At the Kinkakuji we made 
part of a party taken through the temple apartments by 
a priest. These rooms are renowned for the sliding 
screens and kakemonos painted by old masters. The 
Japanese with us seemed to admire them very much. 
After inspecting them all we were led into a room 
where we were ranged in a long row on the floor and 
served wth the greenest tea I ever saw. This serious 
ceremony over, we three made our way through the 
garden to the Golden Pavilion, where again our shoes 
came off and worsted slippers were donned. This is 
something we go through every time we go into a 
temple or Japanese house and I think it very tiresome. 
We have a special bag for our slippers and button 
hook, and the jinrickisha men stand on guard over our 
shoes while we are in the temples. This pavilion 
is interesting. In addition to the gilt statues of gods 
and goddesses there is a revolving library of sacred 
books, and the common people, at least, think that 
by giving it a complete revolution an act of piety equal 
to reading the whole collection has been performed. 
It is the third floor that gave the pavilion its name. 
It is completely gilded, walls, ceiling and floor, and the 



218 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

ceiling is eighteen feet square and made from one piece 
of wood. The gold is nearly worn off now, but must 
have been magnificent once. There is a lake in the 
garden close by, where huge carp three feet long 
disport themselves. The little islands in this lake il- 
lustrate the art of the landscape gardener ; one be- 
ing in the shape of a tortoise with its head and legs 
all drawn in, another the tortoise with its head and 
feet out. 

A distant hill was pointed out as the " Silk Hat 
Mountain " so called because one of the Emperors or- 
dered it covered with white silk one hot day so that 
he might have the pleasure of looking at something 
cool. The Kijomizu-dera temple is on a steep hill, 
and the street that leads up to it is lined on both sides 
with fascinating shops full of gay toys and earthen- 
ware. These shops are all open in front, with their 
wares temptingly laid out. At the top of the hill a 
steep stairway goes up to a two-storied gateway in 
which are hideous giant gods painted bright green and 
blue, and all spotted with paper spit-balls. Each of 
these spit-balls represent a wish. The wish is written 
on a piece of paper, and its writer chews it up and 
throws it at one of these gentlemen. If it sticks, the 
wish will come true. 

The Higashi (East) Hongwauiji is a new temple 
that is magnificent with gilt and polished wood. The 
bronze fountains and lanterns in the courtyard are very 
fine. The temple itself is composed of two buildings, 
with peaked roofs that have the peculiarity of being 
double. They are connected by a covered gallery and 
the larger of the two is the largest building in Japan. 
\\ nen passing along the verandah at the side of this 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 219 

building, I was attracted by a large coil of odd-looking 
dark-colored rope, and on asking about the presence 
of this incongruous object, they told it was rope that 
had been used to lift the beams of the ceiling into 
position — there are no derricks in Japan — and was 
made of human hair, given by those who wished to 
help in the building of the temple, and who being too 
poor to give money, gave their hair instead. 

We passed the Mikado's Palace several times, but 
there is no admission, and nothing can be seen above 
the high outside wall except a peaked roof or two 
among the tree tops. This plastered outside wajll 
painted pale yellow with the five white lines that 
denote Imperial property, has the peculiarity of having 
a roof. 

During our all day ride from Kyoto to Yokohama it 
rained hard. At this I was much disappointed, as the 
route lay over the famous Tokaido or " Eastern Sea 
Road " along which, from the seventeenth century 
down, the Diamyos or great lords, with their retinues 
have come yearly to court. The road is also famous 
for its superb views of Fuji ; but alas, the rain and fog 
blotted out everything. There was an interesting party 
in the compartment with us, two fathers and mothers 
with small children and one woman alone with two 
sturdy youngsters. When Mary asked her the baby's 
age and she replied three, Mary explained that she 
meant one year and a half, as the Japanese date age 
from the New Year and all the little girls celebrate 
their birthdays on March 3d and all the boys on May 
5th without regard to the actual date of birth. There 
were also three young ladies who seemed to be enjoy- 
ing each other's company very much. One, a very 



220 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

beautiful girl, had a headache, and the other two put 
pieces of court plaster around her neck and forehead 
and she lay down to rest. I took stolen looks at her, 
to find she had a Buddhist rosary concealed in her 
hands, and was telling her beads, and stealing an oc- 
casional glance our way to ascertain if we knew what 
she was doing. 

The Bluff Hotel is, as its names implies, situated on 
the bluff where the foreign population of Yohohama 
have their homes. It is an old-fashioned place, — 
just a collection of houses thrown into one. I have a 
" cute " little room, up under the eaves, where I bump 
my head on the ceiling in moments of abstraction. 
There's a sort of bay window at one end, which gives 
me a view of the trees beyond and a bit of road. Most 
of the guests are American, — Army or Navy men, 
en route to or from the Philippines with their fami- 
lies. 

After a day or two here we went over to Tokio. 
The Industrial Exposition being open, Mary and I 
spent a day in Uyeno Park. This is the largest park 
in Japan, and is famous for its cherry blossoms ; but 
unfortunately it was past their season. The collection 
of ivory carving in the Fine Arts building was the 
most wonderful I had ever seen. An infant catching 
flies, cut from a single piece of ivory and half the size 
of life, was simply bewitching. There were old men, 
women, and children, from a few inches to a foot in 
height, all as natural as life, with each detail perfect. 
Near by were some beautiful gold lacquer boxes and 
trays, and I could use up all my adjectives over the 
porcelain ; then I lost my heart over cases full of fasci- 
nating Japanese clothes, kimonos of crepe and of silk. 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 221 

brocade stiff with gold thread, and jeweled clasps to 
fasten the obi. 

Further on were glass cases full of dried fishes, huge 
bundles of something that looked like brown honey 
comb but was really sea-weed, and delicious-looking 
jellies, cakes and sweets. 

Outside the building it was as gay as possible ; flut- 
tering flags and bright paper lanterns swung from the 
trees in festoons, and everywhere were crowds of gaily- 
dressed little people. The flower garden was full of 
roses. Near the garden a pavilion was devoted to 
the arrangement of flowers, an art which every Japan- 
ese lady must count among her accomplishments. 
Each arrangement, as well as the vase, has its own 
special meaning. For instance, a spray of pine and one 
of sweet william in a bamboo vase means sylvan de- 
light. There were a few people sitting on the floor 
in front of the flowers. Remembering what I had heard 
of the worship of flowers, I asked Mary if it was true 
that the Japanese worshipped flowers, and if those 
people were paying their devotion to them. " Oh, no/' 
she said, " they are only sitting on the floor in proper 
Japanese style, just as we would seat ourselves if we 
wanted to take a long restful look at anything. 
Some of the Japanese occasionally bow to the flower 
arrangements, but that is only to show their apprecia- 
tion of the art of the person who made the arrange- 
ment, just as some appreciative admirer might bow 
his head in the presence of the work of a master ar- 
tist." 

We had tiffin at the Seiyoken Hotel, climbed a long 
stairway to a plateau on a hill top, where there was a 
fine view, and wound up the day by having some good 



222 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

ice cream at a little place on the edge of the lake and 
exploring a lot of little shops nearby. I think it is 
great fun to poke through the little shops and see the 
curious things for sale. 

From Tokio we took a flying visit to Nikko, five 
hours away by train. The last half of the way was 
through wild and beautiful country, where the hills, 
as in Kyusho, were covered with red azalea. Just be- 
fore the train stopped we had a glimpse of the famous 
avenue of cyptomerias. The woods around Nikko are 
magnificent, and the temples are beautifully situated 
among the trees. The swift-flowing river is crossed 
by a red lacquer bridge, only opened for royalty. 
Every-day people use another bridge. The roof of the 
summer palace of some of the Imperial Princesses is 
pointed out among the trees. Near a pretty landscape 
garden is a curious black copper column, supported 
by five shorter ones, with bars that cross through its 
centre. This column is supposed to avert evil influence. 
A beautiful avenue of cyptomerias leads to a huge 
granite torii ; then comes a flight of steps, crowned by 
a gate, through which we went in company with a 
whole troop of small boys and girls, being taken 
through the temple in charge of care-takers. They 
were " cute " little things ; the largest did not look more 
than eight years old. We stopped to watch them and 
call out o-hio, — good morning, — to which they re- 
sponded. The gate through which we had just passed 
was carved with animals, lions, unicorns and strange 
unknown beasts, and the court was surrounded by a 
bright red wall. The buildings here were only stone 
houses, but they had such quaint carvings. On one 
the gables were carved with elephants ; on the wall of 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 223 

another were the three famous monkeys holding paws 
to eyes, ears and lips to signify they could neither hear, 
see nor speak evil. We climbed another flight of steps 
and passed through another gateway inside which were 
two lions in the act of leaping down. Were we not- 
brave to pass such a barrier? However, these lions 
were only stone. The small children, having left a 
neat row of wee straw sandals at the steps, were now 
going through the temple in this court, and we followed 
them. I carried away a general impression of having 
seen a wonderful blaze of gold and color, hideous idols, 
and an immense dragon crawling over the ceiling. 
Another flight of steps, and we came to a beautiful 
gateway with carved pillars. The panels on the inner 
side were covered with extremely graceful paintings 
of conventionalized peonies ; this gateway has an 
upper story, and all around this are carved tigers' 
heads with real w T ire whiskers. The balcony railing- 
represents children at play, and under the roof are gilt 
dragons with gaping red mouths. To crown all, a 
life-like demon looks down on one from the very top. 
Another court, and then conies the Chinese gate, 
which leads to the main shrine, and which with its 
inlaid wood and the golden trellis of its fence is a fit 
setting to the carving and gold of the shrine. This is 
a large room, with smaller ones at each end. The 
walls and ceiling are covered with birds and flowers. 
Back of this is the chapel, which is not open to visi- 
tors. 

Out of the opposite side of the courtyard, on our 
way to Ieyasu's tomb, we passed through a door over 
which is the often reproduced painting of a sleeping 
cat ; on the other side is a moss-covered stone gallery 



224 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

from which a long stone stairway, guarded by a wall, 
goes up through the woods to the tomb upon the hill. 
It was so still and peaceful that a spell fell upon me, 
and I sat down on the steps of the little chapel to 
dream. Just on the other side of me, guarded by 
bronze gates, a mossy stone wall surrounded the pago- 
da-shaped tomb. 

On the way back to Tokio a young fellow country- 
man who had joined us entertained me with a most 
diverting history of his experiences at a Japanese inn. 
They asked him if he wanted a hot bath, and when he 
said " yes " conducted him to the bath-room instruct- 
ing him on no account to soap himself until he came 
out of the water. He said he had just left the water 
when the door opened and a woman came in, who 
proceeded to divest herself of her kimono and go down 
into the water in calm disregard of the startled boy, 
who fled in haste and consternation. 

On Saturday, Mary and I were out sight-seeing. 
Tokio streets are not pretty, but they are very interest- 
ing/ The Japanese are so neat that their little houses 
always look inviting. One rarely sees a dirty child, 
and, everywhere we went, the women were washing, or 
the washing was out to dry. But you would not know 
at first that it was washing; they rip up their kimonos, 
for they are only run together with long stitches, 
wash the pieces, and stretch them out on a thin board, 
and set the boards up against the house. And they 
are forever watering the streets, — with a pail of 
water and a dipper. 

We rode around the wide double moat that sur- 
rounds the Imperial Palace. The green bank on the 
other side is dotted with pines and topped by a stone 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 225 

wall. All that one can see back of that is a couple of 
high-pitched roofs among clustering tree tops. 

Shiba Park in no way compares with Nikko in nat- 
ural beauties, but the temples are said to be finer, and 
they really are more wonderful in carving and color, 
the gates being a mass of carving on a larger scale than 
the carving at Xikko. The corridor leading to the 
sanctum was where the great lords ranged themselves 
to wait while their master, the Shogun, penetrated 
alone the Holy of Holies to worship the spirits of his 
ancestors. We were allowed to enter the sanctum, 
with its gilt walls and numbers of red lacquer tables 
at which the priests sat. There are rows and rows of 
bronze lanterns in the court. The tombs of the Sho- 
guns are on the hill behind. 

Another afternoon we started directly after luncheon, 
with two runners for each jinrickisha, for the Iris gar- 
dens, at Horikiri. The way lay through the Muko- 
jima, where a beautiful avenue of cherry trees lines the 
river bank. Horikiri used to be the old execution 
ground, and on account of so much blood having been 
spilled there they say the Irises grow better and finer 
than in any other spot. It was a little early in the 
season for the flowers, but there were enough of the 
stately beauties open to give me an idea how beautiful 
the field must be when in its glory. We had tea in 
one of the numerous little summer houses before start- 
ing on the return journey. All the way, people were 
out in holiday attire, and such a number of babies ! 
Every old man and almost every child had a baby 
strapped to his back. One old man had a flower- 
trimmed hat seemingly dangling from his shoulders. 
When I got nearer it resolved itself into the head- 



226 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

gear of a sleeping child. You cannot imagine how 
funny it is to see the children in their kimonos, with 
an English pinafore, and a flower-trimmed straw hat 
on top. I think the children are spoiled by being car- 
ried when they are so big and sturdy. To my mind the 
bright pretty little girls are the most attractive sight 
in Japan. I wish we could import jinrickishas and the 
jinrickisha men, the former are so comfortable and con- 
venient, and the men are so intelligent, helpful, careful 
and honest. 

I wanted to visit the School for the Deaf before leav- 
ing Tokio, so Harry sent a note to one of the Secre- 
taries of the U. S. Legation, asking him to get us a 
permit to visit the School. We had to leave Tokio 
on Monday afternoon, and when Monday morning's 
mail brought a note from him in which he deeply re- 
gretted being unable to get the desired permit, as the 
Minister of Education was out of town, Harry said 
" Never mind ; we will go, and I will see what I can 
do with the aid of our visiting cards". For the sake 
of additional speed we each had two runners for our 
jinrickishas, and even then were beginning to think the 
ride was very long, when at last our men turned into a 
gate in a high board fence, and stopped at the door of a 
large frame building. The doors being wide open, we 
walked in, and, as good fortune would have it, the 
gentleman walking along the hall, to whom Harry 
spoke, presenting our cards, turned out to be the 
Principal himself. He was most cordial, and not only 
consented to our visiting the school, but went through 
it with us, introducing us in each class-room, where I 
tried, but unsuccessfully, to talk to the mutes. Finally 
we were taken to the chapel, and when the school 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 227 

assembled there the Principal wrote a long address 
in tea-chest characters on the blackboard. Afterwards 
he took us to the Art Department, where a number of 
boys were at work on water-color designs. He had 
one of them paint several fans, which he gave me, to- 
gether with some flower studies. 

Mary and I returned to the Bluff Hotel on Monday 
evening, and the faithful tailor, according to his prom- 
ise to bring home my things early on Tuesday morn- 
ing, brought them before six o'clock, and stood out- 
side my door until I opened it and found him there. 

Harry came on from Tokio this morning, Wednes- 
day, to see that I and all my baggage got safely on the 
Hong Kong Maru. I have pasted steamship labels 
on my trunks for the last time, and my last day in 
Japan has dawned bright and beautiful. 



228 ROUND THE WORLD IX SILENCE 



XVIII 
On Board the Hong Kong Maru. 

I AM beginning to feel as if I had always been on 
this boat, and all other events in my life were but a 
series of dreams. It is my first long voyage on a 
small steamer. The Pacific, which I had always imag- 
ined as calm as any tropical lake, has been as turbulent 
as the Atlantic ; and one feels the motion so much more 
on a small boat. We were hardly well outside Yoko- 
hama Bay before a wave washed across the saloon 
companion-way, and our porthole had to be closed. 
There have been a few bright warm days when the sea 
was smooth, when we could move around and even 
have deck games. One of these was Antipodes Day, 
when the ship crossed the line. A big canvas swim- 
ming tank had been put up on the lower deck for the 
aquatic sports, and a few of the gentlemen did 
"stunts" for our amusement; for further celebration, 
there was a ball in the evening. 

We anchored off Honolulu about noon, one glorious 
day, ten days after leaving Yokohama. After waiting 
for the Health Officer to come out to the ship, we were 
all sent into the saloon, and as the passenger list was 
read we had to walk up, one by one, and get a ticket, 
without which, we were told, we would not be allowed 
to come -on board again. Luncheon was in progress 
when the ship came up to the wharf, but we were all 
ready to go off almost as soon as the stairway had 
been let down. The five of us were soon wedged into 



ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 229 

a surrey and off to see all we could before our ship 
sailed again at seven o'clock. 

Honolulu's business streets look just like those in 
any eastern town of the United States, but the resi- 
dence part is a bit of Southern California with its 
pretty bungalows in their gardens of tropical luxuri- 
ance. The road up to the Punch Bowl, an extinct 
volcano, was wild and lovely, and the view from there 
glorious, though we saw it through a smart shower, 
with the sun shining gaily all the time. We hurried 
on to the Waikiki Seaside Hotel to watch the bathers 
and natives riding the surf on planks. There we had 
some tea, and hastened away again, through the city, 
as fast as our horse could go, getting glimpses of the 
Royal Palace and the home of the Princesses, and of 
the grounds of the Old People's Home. There the 
driver gathered us glorious waxen magnolias, guavas, 
and bananas, then hurried us on for a peep at the 
Moana and Royal Hawaiian Hotels, and finally raced 
us off to the pier, where a long row of native women, 
with garlands of flowers around their necks, sat on the 
floor, selling flowers. The clock was just about to 
strike seven, — we were saved. After all, the steamer 
did not leave until nine o'clock ; but we did not venture 
to go off again, not wishing to risk getting left, as we 
knew every berth in all the steamers for a month 
ahead had been engaged and one of the officers told 
me that there were four hundred passengers left in 
Honolulu, waiting for a chance to go on. 

All the stewards in this ship are Chinese. My table 
steward is a toothless old fellow with a long queue 
which he wears tucked into the pocket of the blue 
linen pinafore that covers him down to the ankles. 



230 ROUND THE WORLD IN SILENCE 

He has constituted himself a committee of one to look 
after me, and embarrasses me considerably by his 
attentions. 

The ever thoughtful Harry and Mary left a big 
bundle of beautiful cards for me, one for each day of 
the voyage, so I am transported back to Japan every 
morning. 

6.00 o'clock Thursday evening. 

The 2100 miles between Honolulu and San Francisco 
are now drawing to an end, and though no land has 
been sighted yet, everything is ready for landing. Our 
trunks have all been taken away from us and all the 
baggage is piled up ready to be carried off. We are 
tingling with excitement. 

Half past eight. — There's a light on the horizon 
and they tell me we have been telegraphed, and are 
only twenty-five miles from San Francisco. , We sailed 
from New York on a 13th and today is the 13th of the 
month, but of course they will not allow us to land 
before morning. 

Eleven o'clock — 'A pilot has been taken on, and 
lights are flashing all along the shore. The wind is 
" freezing cold ". It does not seem true that it is really 
blowing from my native land, and that soon T shall 
see you all once more. 



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